Why one expert says this could be the ‘turnaround decade’ for Alzheimer’s treatment

A father and daughter is using music to fight against dementia. Kamil Karamali on using creativity to cut through memory fog.

While the number of Canadians with dementia is expected to increase to nearly one million people in the next five years, one senior scientist at the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education believes the next decade is also going to show promising breakthroughs in delivering treatment, prevention and the ability to diagnose earlier.

“This is going to be the turnaround decade,” said Dr. Howard Chertkow in an interview with CTV News on Sunday.

On the topic of prevention, Chertkow said there are several “lifestyle interventions” that have come to light in the past five to 10 years that can reduce the risk of people getting Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“There’s good evidence from population studies that about half of the cases of dementia could be prevented by appropriate lifestyle interventions,” he said. “Now we recognize certain diets, obesity, lack of exercise, problems with your vascular system that are not adequately treated - like high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking- (can increase the risk of dementia).”

Chertkow said new studies show that there are over a dozen practices people could be doing to lower their risk of getting dementia, like sleeping seven hours a night and even flossing their teeth.

On the treatment side, he said what gives him the most hope is that doctors are learning to respond to Alzheimer’s differently based on each unique individual’s diagnosis.

“We’re moving away from treating Alzheimer’s disease as one thing, and starting to recognize it involves different subgroups with different proteins in the brain, different problems leading to dementia, and it will lead to different personalized treatments for different patients.”

Chertkow said medications have also changed drastically to help improve the lives of people living with dementia.

“In the past 25 years, there are medications that could mildly improve the memory symptoms but would not stave off the disease, would not stave the decline,” he said.

“Now they are beginning to become available and two medications have been released in the U.S. -- and the better medications are coming down the pipe. So I believe in five or ten years, there’s going to be a group of medications that we can offer to patients.”

The hope for better medication comes as the number of dementia patients is expected to surge in the next couple of decades. The Alzheimer Society of Canada says there are roughly 750-thousand Canadians with dementia currently, but that is expected to increase to nearly one million by 2030 and climb to 1.7 million by 2050.

Chertkow believes the current Canadian health-care system will buckle under that patient load — and is warning that action needs to be taken now.

“The main way to avoid this tsunami of dementia is to spend the dollars to develop research on prevention and treatment so we don’t have to treat those patients in five, 10, 15 years who will otherwise require dementia therapy,” he said.

Art therapy for Alzheimer’s patients

The Alzheimer Society of Toronto, a not-for-profit organization, has been using art therapy to help in the treatment of some of the roughly 51,000 Torontonians with the disease.

“We provide programming that includes art and music,” said Dave Spedding, the CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Toronto. “It’s really been shown to improve people’s moods, help relieve stress. It provides stimulation — even slightly moving your hands, doing some artwork, is shown to get people thinking, using their brain. It won’t cure it, but it can keep them functioning and communicating."

Eighty-year-old environmental lawyer David Estrin was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s last year — and has been using the services of the Alzheimer Society of Toronto to feel supported as he and his daughter navigate their new journey.

“I do think about [my memories], not so much when I’m singing but before, when I’m practicing or looking at a song to sing — (thinking about) how should the song go," said Estrin about the benefits music has provided.

“Art has been a way to bring people together, and that’s been the case for us,” said Simone Estrin, David’s daughter. “We’ve been able to take art classes together, we’ve been going to choir, he’s been singing, and Mom will accompany him on the piano.”

But Spedding is concerned about what’s around the corner when it comes to the surge of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients that will need care in the near future.

“Seventy-five per cent of our clients are caregiver-free. It’s the family providing that support,” said Spedding. “In Ontario alone, that’s upwards of 140,000 full-time jobs — so as this number grows, they’re not prepared at all."