New Alzheimer’s research in Australia

A new $10 million research project is aiming to head off the devastating impact of Alzheimer’s disease on Australia’s ageing population.

The three-year study by the Preventative Health Flagship, a CSIRO program of health research, will focus on the causes and early detection of Alzheimer’s, which currently affects 150,000 Australians.

Researchers will use Positron Emission Tomography (PET scans) on 1,000 volunteers from Victoria and Western Australia for the project, to track the development of the disease in people.

Doctors at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital, using a new type of PET scan, found one in five people over 65 without any memory problems had early signs of Alzheimer’s. They had traces of a protein called amyloid in their brains, thought to cause Alzheimer’s disease.

This research is picking up the disease before there is damage done to the brain.

About 1,000 Australians are diagnosed with dementia each week. Most of them have Alzheimer’s disease.