On 18 July, a group of experts led by Prof Vladimir Hachinski published an article entitled ‘Preventing dementia by preventing stroke: the Berlin Manifesto’ in Alzheimer’s and Dementia. The article, consisting of a systematic literature review on stroke and dementia and a call to action, is the result of a meeting of international experts in stroke and dementia research at the October 2018 World Health Summit in Berlin.
In their article, Prof Hachinski and colleagues highlighted a growing body of evidence suggesting that prevention of stroke could also prevent some dementias. Studies show that having a stroke doubles the risk of developing dementia, and that over 90% of strokes are preventable. Moreover, stroke and dementia share many modifiable risk factors, including hypertension, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The group of experts also drew strong parallels between the vascular dysfunction known to be an early event in the development of dementia, and the vascular pathologies that cause strokes, describing how neurovascular dysfunction can initiate a cascade of events leading to brain inflammation and neurodegeneration.
In their action plan recommendations, the group of experts call for the establishment of an International Consortium to jointly address stroke and dementia. Emphasising the importance of public-private partnerships and effective data sharing, they highlight the need for large clinical and genetic databases to accelerate the development of innovative detection technologies and interventional treatments for early-stage disease.
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1552-5260(19)30144-X