
‘Slip, slop, slap for brain health': Australia needs a major prevention campaign for dementia, doctor says
In the speech titled 'Hope Beckons', Prof Henry Brodaty, a co-director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at the University of New South Wales, said there was much more Australia could be doing to help prevent dementia in its ageing population by addressing risk factors that can be managed, such as poor diet.
Australia has a 'very proud record of prevention' when it comes to health, such as the 'slip slap slop' and 'life be in it' campaigns, as well as smoking reduction and heart health awareness, Brodaty said.
'But we don't have an awareness in our community we can do the same thing for dementia, where half the risk factors for dementia is caused by environmentally modifiable factors that we can all do something about.
'We all have the power to do more exercise, to keep our brains active, keep socially connected. We can monitor and treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol. We can compensate for hearing loss. We can try to avoid obesity. We can reduce the risk of diabetes and head injury. We can live in environments free of air pollution. We can not smoke and avoid excess alcohol.'
Brodaty told the press club 'We need the slip, slop, slap of brain health now.'
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
The National Dementia Action Plan 2023–2034 was released, but $166m in funding is too little for what Australia needs, he said. 'Where are the navigators to guide patients and families after a diagnosis? Think about breast cancer … We can do this too in dementia, and it can be cost neutral,' Brodaty said.
A study on which Brodaty was senior author, published on Wednesday in the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease, found that CHeBA's internet-based dementia prevention program tailored to an individual's risk profile shows cost-effectiveness for improving cognition and reducing dementia risk.
Between 2018 and 2021, the trial followed 6,104 Australians aged 55 to 77 without dementia but who carried at least two modifiable dementia risk factors such as being overweight or suffering from anxiety. CHeBA's 'Maintain Your Brain' online had coaching modules for four of these factors: physical activity, nutrition, cognitive training, and depression or anxiety.
Half of the participants were assigned to the online program, where they were allocated between two to four of the modules depending on their dementia risk profile, while the other half of participants in the trial (the control group) were given access to curated but freely available information sheets regarding dementia risk reduction.
After three years, the researchers analysed the differences in costs for both the direct healthcare that participants received and the program costs, and the effectiveness (cognitive outcomes and dementia risk) between the two groups.
They found the participants who received the online coaching showed significant improvements in cognitive performance and greater reductions in dementia risk compared with those who received general health information alone.
The difference was highly significant, which would have a 'major effect' at a population level, delaying the onset of dementia, Brodaty said. 'Every year that we can delay the onset of dementia reduces the prevalence of dementia by 10% because it pushes the disease to later in life.'
Sign up to Breaking News Australia
Get the most important news as it breaks
after newsletter promotion
They also found there was no significant difference in cost per person over the trial period because those who participated in the program used fewer healthcare resources which offsets the cost of delivering it.
The researchers noted that the online program would become cheaper per person in future because some research and development costs had already been borne.
The researchers also acknowledged limitations within the study: the participants were primarily Caucasian, better educated than average and had a higher socioeconomic status than the general population. They also noted risk-reduction practices may reap greater benefits in higher-risk populations.
As the study, they said, considered short-term measures of effectiveness only, 'the true long-term cost savings will only be known if the sample is followed long enough to identify whether cases of incident dementia are prevented'.
Prof Scott Ayton, a director in dementia research at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, who was not involved in the research, said 'evidence accumulated over the past decade indicates that lifestyle and risk factor-targeted prevention strategies can meaningfully lessen dementia risk'.
'The large Maintain Your Brain trial stands as a leading exemplar, showing that straightforward, cost-effective, risk-factor targeted interventions can delay onset or reduce overall risk without adding pressure to the health budget,' Ayton said.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
19 hours ago
- The Sun
Weird swelling revealed first sign man's fingers and toes were ‘completely replaced' by cancer
A MAN developed painful swelling in one of his fingers and toes over the course of six weeks. It turned out to be a rare sign of cancer that had spread through his body - and the bones in his digits had been " completely replaced" by cancerous tumours. 2 Prior to swelling, the 55-year-old from Australia had been diagnosed with metastatic squamous-cell lung cancer. Squamous cell lung cancer is known for spreading to multiple sites, including the brain, spine and other bones, adrenal glands, and liver. It's a type of non-small cell cancer, the most common type of lung cancer, and accounts for roughly 80-85 per cent of all lung cancer cases. His case was published this month in The New England Journal of Medicine. Six weeks after noticing swelling in his right middle finger and his right big toe, the man went to his local hospital. Doctors found the tip of each was red and swollen, and an ulcer had formed near the nail of the affected toe. The swollen areas were firm to touch and tender, the doctors reported. Scans revealed his hand and foot contained "destructive lytic lesions that had completely replaced" the bones in the finger and toe. Lytic lesions are areas of bone destruction that appear as holes or weakened spots on imaging scans. While cancer that's spread to the fingers and toes may mimic gout on a physical examination, a scan called a radiograph can help identify lytic lesions, the patient's doctors noted. The man was diagnosed with acrometastasis - the rare occurrence of cancerous tumours metastasising to the bones of the hands or feet. Acrometastases account for about 0.1 per cent of all metastatic cancers, according to a 2021 review. In most cases, the condition is seen in patients who already have cancer. But in some instances, acrometastasis can be the first sign for undiagnosed cancers. It's most often linked to cancers of the lung, gastrointestinal tract and genitourinary tract. Acrometastases are seen more often in males than in females, according to the review. 2 And it tends to be rare, because in most cases, cancer cells are drawn to bone marrow, which is found in the long bones of the arms, legs, ribs, backbone, breastbone and pelvis. Finger and toe bones contain less bone marrow. Additionally, the further a bone is from the heart, the less blood it gets. Lower blood flow makes it harder for cancer cells to reach the fingertips or toes, so acrometastases happen less often there. Because acrometastases are usually seen in late-stage cancers, they're linked to poor survival rate. Treatments are typically focused on relieving a patient's pain and retaining as much function in the hand or foot as possible. In the 55-year-old's case, he was started on palliative radiotherapy, which aims to relieve symptoms rather than cure the disease. The doctors reports he died three weeks later from complications of refractory hypercalcemia - persistently high calcium levels in the blood that don't respond to standard treatments. Common symptoms of acrometastasis Acrometastasis, the spread of cancer to the bones of the hands or feet, can present with symptoms like pain, swelling, redness, and warmth in the affected area. These symptoms can mimic benign conditions like arthritis or infection, leading to potential diagnostic delays. Common symptoms include: Pain: Often deep-seated, intermittent, and may not be relieved by typical painkillers. Swelling: Can be localized to a specific digit or involve a larger area. Redness and warmth: May indicate an inflammatory process, but can also be a sign of acrometastasis. Tenderness: The affected area may be tender to the touch. Functional impairment: Difficulty using the hand or foot due to pain or swelling. Ulceration or bleeding: In some cases, the skin over the affected area may ulcerate or bleed. Palpable mass: A lump or mass may be felt in the affected digit.


The Independent
20 hours ago
- The Independent
The NHS change that could prevent 6,500 cancer cases each year
A new study suggests that thousands of breast cancer cases could be prevented annually in the UK by expanding eligibility for risk-reducing mastectomies (RRM). The research indicates that approximately 6,500 cases could be averted each year if RRM was more widely adopted beyond current genetic predispositions. Currently, RRM is primarily offered to women with BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2 genes, but the study proposes including those with other high-risk genes like ATM and CHEK2. The study also highlights that a combination of factors, including family history, parity, breastfeeding, and mammogram density, should be considered for RRM eligibility. Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found RRM to be cost-effective for women aged 30-55 with a lifetime breast cancer risk of 35 per cent or more.


Daily Mail
20 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The science-backed workout that makes men TALLER in just two months - and you can really see the difference
When Sydney estate lawyer Oliver Morrisey realised his job was starting to take both a physical and emotional toll, he knew he had to change up his fitness regimen. 'Years of courtrooms and being bent over a desk had pulled my shoulders down and smushed my back together,' Oliver says.