The 2022 symposium on dementia and brain aging in low‐ and middle‐income countries: Highlights on research, diagnosis, care, and impact

Two of every three persons living with dementia reside in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). The projected increase in global dementia rates is expected to affect LMICs disproportionately. However, the majority of global dementia care costs occur in high‐income countries (HICs), with dementia research predominantly focusing on HICs. This imbalance necessitates LMIC‐focused research to ensure that characterization of dementia accurately reflects the involvement and specificities of diverse populations. Development of effective preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic approaches for dementia in LMICs requires targeted, personalized, and harmonized efforts. Our article represents timely discussions at the 2022 Symposium on Dementia and Brain Aging in LMICs that identified the foremost opportunities to advance dementia research, differential diagnosis, use of neuropsychometric tools, awareness, and treatment options. We highlight key topics discussed at the meeting and provide future recommendations to foster a more equitable landscape for dementia prevention, diagnosis, care, policy, and management in LMICs. Highlights: Two‐thirds of persons with dementia live in LMICs, yet research and costs are skewed toward HICs. LMICs expect dementia prevalence to more than double, accompanied by socioeconomic disparities. The 2022 Symposium on Dementia in LMICs addressed advances in research, diagnosis, prevention, and policy. The Nairobi Declaration urges global action to enhance dementia outcomes in LMICs

Spine ABC, A Multidimensional Case Report from A to Z: Aneurysmal Bone Cyst of the Spine: In memory of Dimitrios Konstantinou

Background: Aneurysmal bone cysts (ABC) are uncommon entities which cause expansile and destructive bone lesions and are characterized by reactive proliferation of connective tissue. They usually grow rapidly with hypervascularity. ABC’s incidence on the spine is 1.5 in 10 million. Most cases present with pain of unexplained origin. The Case: Presented in this paper is an ABC case in the spinous process of the L2 vertebra of a 20-year-old Greek female patient. The main symptom was persistent back pain, without neurological symptoms, of four years’ duration. Treatment consisted of surgical curettage of the lesion. In this case report, we tried to describe not only the pathology of this disease but also the subsequent psychosocial symptoms that accompany it. We managed to accomplish that by exploiting the knowledge of an experienced pathologist, the help of the physicians responsible for this case, the interest of some sensitized medical students, and of course, the experience of the patient herself since the patient is also the lead author. Conclusion: The focal point of this article is that even though ABCs might lead to excruciating pain, this pain can be alleviated with the proper treatment, especially if the communication between physician and patient is optimal

Naming ability assessment in neurocognitive disorders: a clinician’s perspective

Abstract Background Detecting impaired naming capacity is valuable in diagnosing neurocognitive disorders (ND). A. clinical practice- oriented overview of naming tests validated in ND is not available yet. Here, features of naming tests with validated utility in ND which are open access or available for purchase are succinctly presented and compared. Methods Searches were carried out across Pubmed, Medline and Google Scholar. Additional studies were identified by searching reference lists. Only peer-reviewed journal articles were eligible. A narrative- and tabullar synthesis was used to summarize different aspects of the naming assessment instruments used in patients with ND such as stimuli type, administration time, assessment parameters and accessibility. Based on computational word frequency calculations, the tests were compared in terms of the average frequency of their linguistic content. Results Twelve naming tests, relying either on visual or auditory stimuli have been validated in ND. Their content and administration time vary between three and 60 items and one and 20 minutes, respectively. The average frequency of the words of each considered test was two or lower, pointing to low frequency of most items. In all but one test, scoring systems are exclusively based on correctly named items. Seven instruments are open access and four are available in more than one language. Conclusions Gaining insights into naming tests’ characteristics may catalyze the wide incorporation of those with short administration time but high diagnostic accuracy into the diagnostic workup of ND at primary healthcare and of extensive, visual or auditory ones into the diagnostic endeavors of memory clinics, as well as of secondary and tertiary brain healthcare settings

Low cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis: a clinical study

Abstract Background Recently, cognitive deficits occurring in rheumatic diseases have attracted scientific attention. Cognitive symptoms in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) have not been thoroughly studied. This study aimed to assess cognitive function and its relationship with depressive symptoms in RA and SSc and compare it to mild neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease (MiND) and to individuals without cognitive impairment. Methods Cognitive function and depressive symptoms were tapped with the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument plus (COGTEL+), the Serial Seven Test (SST), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Geriatric Depression scale-15 (GDS), respectively. Statistical analyses included between groups-, correlation- and regression analyses. Demographic characteristics were considered in the regression models. Results The study included 30 individuals with RA, 24 with SSc, 26 adults without cognitive impairment and 33 individuals with MiND. Lower performance in verbal short-term memory, concentration/attention, verbal fluency and MMSE in patients with RA compared to individuals without cognitive impairment was detected. Of note, performance on verbal fluency, concentration/attention, inductive reasoning and MMSE was lower in RA compared to MiND. Individuals with SSc performed worse in verbal fluency and in MMSE in comparison to adults without cognitive deficits. Verbal fluency deficits in SSc exceeded that in MiND. Performance on MMSE, COGTEL+, prospective memory, working memory, verbal fluency and concentration/attention was related to GDS scores, which did not vary across the groups. Conclusions Patients with RA and SSc encountered cognitive dysfunction, which partially pertains to depressive symptoms. Of note, the severity of cognitive dysfunction in many cases exceeded that of MiND

The 2022 symposium on dementia and brain aging in low- and middle-income countries: Highlights on research, diagnosis, care, and impact.

Publication status: PublishedFunder: Alzheimer's Association, USAFunder: ICMR: Indian Council for Medical ResearchFunder: GOK: Government of KarnatakaFunder: RBM: Rotary Bangalore MidtownFunder: LSIPL: M/s Lowes Services India Private LimitedFunder: Wellcome Trust, UKFunder: Chinese Neuroscience Society, ChinaFunder: International Society for Neurochemistry; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008992Funder: AXA Research Fund; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001961Funder: Appel à Projet des Equipes Émergentes et Labellisées scheme (APREL)Funder: Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI)Funder: Health Professionals Education Partnership Initiative EthiopiaFunder: Rainwater Charitable Foundation – The Bluefield project to cure FTD, and Global Brain Health InstituteFunder: National Research Foundation (NRF)Funder: Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, USAFunder: National Institute for Health and Care Research, United KingdomFunder: UK National Health Service, Newcastle University,Funder: Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF)Funder: Canadian Institute of Health ResearchFunder: National Council for Scientific and Technological Development; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003593Funder: Bluefield Project, the Olav Thon Foundation, the Erling‐Persson Family Foundation, Stiftelsen för Gamla Tjänarinnor, Hjärnfonden, SwedenFunder: Marie Skłodowska‐CurieFunder: National Institute for Health and Care Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research CentreTwo of every three persons living with dementia reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The projected increase in global dementia rates is expected to affect LMICs disproportionately. However, the majority of global dementia care costs occur in high-income countries (HICs), with dementia research predominantly focusing on HICs. This imbalance necessitates LMIC-focused research to ensure that characterization of dementia accurately reflects the involvement and specificities of diverse populations. Development of effective preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic approaches for dementia in LMICs requires targeted, personalized, and harmonized efforts. Our article represents timely discussions at the 2022 Symposium on Dementia and Brain Aging in LMICs that identified the foremost opportunities to advance dementia research, differential diagnosis, use of neuropsychometric tools, awareness, and treatment options. We highlight key topics discussed at the meeting and provide future recommendations to foster a more equitable landscape for dementia prevention, diagnosis, care, policy, and management in LMICs. HIGHLIGHTS: Two-thirds of persons with dementia live in LMICs, yet research and costs are skewed toward HICs. LMICs expect dementia prevalence to more than double, accompanied by socioeconomic disparities. The 2022 Symposium on Dementia in LMICs addressed advances in research, diagnosis, prevention, and policy. The Nairobi Declaration urges global action to enhance dementia outcomes in LMICs

The 2022 symposium on dementia and brain aging in low‐ and middle‐income countries: Highlights on research, diagnosis, care, and impact

Two of every three persons living with dementia reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The projected increase in global dementia rates is expected to affect LMICs disproportionately. However, the majority of global dementia care costs occur in high-income countries (HICs), with dementia research predominantly focusing on HICs. This imbalance necessitates LMIC-focused research to ensure that characterization of dementia accurately reflects the involvement and specificities of diverse populations. Development of effective preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic approaches for dementia in LMICs requires targeted, personalized, and harmonized efforts. Our article represents timely discussions at the 2022 Symposium on Dementia and Brain Aging in LMICs that identified the foremost opportunities to advance dementia research, differential diagnosis, use of neuropsychometric tools, awareness, and treatment options. We highlight key topics discussed at the meeting and provide future recommendations to foster a more equitable landscape for dementia prevention, diagnosis, care, policy, and management in LMICs. HIGHLIGHTS: Two-thirds of persons with dementia live in LMICs, yet research and costs are skewed toward HICs. LMICs expect dementia prevalence to more than double, accompanied by socioeconomic disparities. The 2022 Symposium on Dementia in LMICs addressed advances in research, diagnosis, prevention, and policy. The Nairobi Declaration urges global action to enhance dementia outcomes in LMICs

The Nairobi Declaration—Reducing the burden of dementia in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs): Declaration of the 2022 Symposium on Dementia and Brain Aging in LMICs

[No abstract available