Dementia Action Week: the importance of a timely diagnosis

A recent study from Queen Mary University of London highlighted that the symptoms people report to their doctors in the years before receiving a diagnosis of dementia differ according to their ethnic backgrounds. Given that people from Black and African-Caribbean backgrounds or South Asian heritage are 43% and 17% more likely to develop dementia than people from white European backgrounds, ensuring that clinicians are aware that reported symptoms may be different in these groups is extremely important. 

Although there is currently no cure for dementia, receiving an early diagnosis can help people to keep in touch with family and friends, stay active, and live as independently as possible for as long as they can. Anything that makes it more difficult for someone to receive that critical diagnosis can therefore have a huge impact on their quality of life, and to the support available to their families. 

Researchers from Queen Mary are working with the local community here in East London to identify some of the barriers that could stop people from receiving a timely diagnosis of dementia. Their work aims to move away from models which often relied predominantly on data from white patients, to studies that better reflect the diversity of the population. 

By engaging with people in the local community and centering the voices of people with lived experience of dementia, or of caring for someone with dementia, and in particular of groups who have been traditionally underrepresented in research, Queen Mary aims to challenge stigma, increase the awareness of the wide symptoms of dementia, and reduce health inequalities associated with this condition.

For more Dementia Action Week content, visit the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry LinkedIn page.