23rd Alzheimer Europe Conference Living well in a dementia-friendly society Malta / 10-12 October 2013 Programme and Abstract Book MALTA DEMENTIA SOCIETY The 23rd Alzheimer Europe Conference is organised under the Distinguished Patronage of His Excellency Dr George Abela, President of Malta. The 23rd Alzheimer Europe Conference in St. Julian’s, Malta has received funding from the European Union, in the framework of the Public Health Programme. Living well in a dementia-friendly society / Malta 2013 Final Programme / Welcome Welcome Dear colleagues and friends, projects, initiatives and actitivities. In addition, we selected over 50 additional abstracts which will be presented as posters. It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to the 23rd Annual Conference of Alzheimer Europe which takes place in St. Julian’s, Our conferences have established themselves as great networking Malta from 10 to 12 October 2013. opportunities and we hope that this year will be no exception. We are truly grateful to the academics, researchers and healthcare The motto of this year’s conference is “Living well in a dementia- professionals, but also people with dementia and carers, who friendly society”. We will explore how our perceptions and image will be participating in this year’s conference. It is thanks to their of dementia have an impact on the lives of people with dementia collective contributions that we have witnessed a true shift in public and their carers. We will showcase examples of good practice with perceptions over the past years and a growing commitment by regard to the involvement of people with dementia in activities and national and European policy makers to give dementia the attention projects and the establishment of dementia friendly communities. it so rightly deserves. The importance of ethical issues and a rights-based legal framework will also be addressed. By putting people first, we want to ensure For us, our conference will be another important milestone in our that our conference provides useful advice and contributes towards campaign to make dementia a public health priority and we look improving the quality of life of people with dementia. forward to your input and ideas. Innovation, prevention and integrated care are additional key We wish you all a successful conference with the opportunity of themes of our conference. These have been identified as priorities by meeting new and old friends and increasing our understanding of the “European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing” dementia. and this conference hopes to establish links with and provide input to this key initiative of the European Commission. Heike von Lützau-Hohlbein Chairperson / Alzheimer Europe In this context, we would also like to thank the European Union for the generous support it provided via the health programme for our Charles Scerri conference. It is thanks to this support that we have been able to Secretary / Malta Dementia Society offer very competitive registration rates to all participants. We were delighted by the great response to our call for abstracts and were able to put together a truly inspiring programme with over 110 speakers sharing their latest research and presenting their Heike von Lützau-Hohlbein Charles Scerri 3 23rd Alzheimer Europe Conference Final Programme / Forewords Forewords Europeans are living longer. The European Commission’s 2012 Ageing Furthermore, the stakeholder-driven European Innovation Report projected that the population aged 65 and above will almost Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing has made the prevention double by 2060 in the EU. The number of people aged 80 years and of functional and cognitive disease one of its priorities, and it has above is expected to almost triple. This development will also lead to set itself the objective of reaching at least 1.000 care providers a major increase in the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease. across the EU by 2015. In the context of the European initiative on Alzheimer’s Disease and The 23rd Alzheimer Europe Conference “Living well in a dementia- other dementias from 2009, the Commission launched several EU- friendly society” from 10th to 12th of October 2013 in Malta will be activities over the past years to support Member States in addressing a key opportunity to bring these action strands together and to the needs of the growing number of people with dementia. enable many experts, stakeholders and policymakers working in this important field to exchange and discuss their findings, practices First, the “ALCOVE”-Joint Action under the EU-Health Programme, and experiences. conducted this Spring, brought together 19 Member States to develop concrete recommendations and identify good practices in Tonio Borg four fields: epidemiology of dementia; timely diagnosis; support EU Commissionner for Health systems on behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia; the rights, autonomy and dignity of people with dementia. In addition, the EU Joint Programme Initiative – Neurodegenerative Disease Research is the largest global research initiative aimed at tackling the challenge of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s disease. It aims to increase coordinated investment between participating countries in research aimed at finding causes, developing cures, and identifying appropriate ways to care for those with neurodegenerative diseases. Tonio Borg 4 Living well in a dementia-friendly society / Malta 2013 Final Programme / Forewords It is an honour for all Maltese citizens, especially those working National efforts to deal with dementia must also be implemented. in the field of ageing, that Malta was designated to host the It is important that each country takes the initiative to ensure that 23rd Annual Conference of Alzheimer Europe on “Living well in a citizens can live well in a dementia-friendly society. In Malta, the dementia-friendly society”. finalisation of a national Dementia Strategy is in an advanced stage, and should be completed and launched in mid 2014. This National There is no doubt that the coming of population ageing constitutes Strategy will enable Malta to set up protocols to achieve a timely a human triumph. Population ageing, however, is not devoid of diagnosis of dementia, as well as developing information courses particular and incisive challenges. Despite increasing health life on dementia for all health-care professions. expectancies, a significant percentage of older adults does continue to experience a range of physical and cognitive challenges. Indeed, In conclusion, I hope that this conference will generate much mental there are currently more than seven million people with dementia in stimulus, and that participants will have opportunities to learn the European Union, with studies predicting that this number will about the various good practices that exist in the countries being double in less than twenty years. represented herein. Last but not least, special gratitude goes to the Alzheimer Europe and Malta Dementia Society for organising this Alzheimer Europe’s annual conferences are to be supported conference, and I wish them more success in their future work. without reservation because dementia is best tackled as a common challenge, with each country roping in its resources to support the Franco Mercieca European Commission’s European Initiative on Alzheimer disease Parliamentary Secretary for Rights of Persons with Disability and other dementias. It is paramount that we join forces to ensure and Active Ageing that better knowledge about dementia whilst combatting against the stigma surrounding this illness, guarantee early diagnosis, support and treatment for people with dementia and their carers, and develop services that meet ongoing and changing needs. This guarantees a shared European effort to improving knowledge and coordination of social and health services focusing on dementia. Franco Mercieca 5 23rd Alzheimer Europe Conference Final Programme / Organisers Organisers Host organisations Organising committee The 23rd Alzheimer Europe Conference - Stephen Abela, Malta Dementia Society, Malta in St. Julian’s,Malta is organised by: - Antonia Croy, Alzheimer Austria, Austria - Jean Georges, Alzheimer Europe, Luxembourg - Gwladys Guillory, Alzheimer Europe, Luxembourg Alzheimer Europe - Iva Holmerová, Czech Alzheimer‘s Society, Czech Republic 145, route de Thionville - Charles Scerri, Malta Dementia Society, Malta L-2611 Luxembourg - Henry Simmons, Alzheimer Scotland, United Kingdom Tel.: +352-29 79 70 Fax: +352-29 79 72 [email protected] Programme committee www.alzheimer-europe.org Chairperson and - Dr. Charles Scerri, Malta Dementia Society, Malta Malta Dementia Society c/o Room 135 Members Pharmacy Building University of Malta - Dr. Stephen Abela, Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital, Tal-Pieta‘, Msida MSD 2080 Malta Malta - Ms. Rosette Bonello, International Institute on Aging, Valletta, [email protected] Malta www.maltadementiasociety.org.mt - Prof. Murna Downs, University of Bradford, Bradford, United King- dom - Prof. Dr. Rose-Marie Dröes, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Mr. Jean Georges, Alzheimer Europe, Luxembourg - Dr. Dianne Gove, Alzheimer Europe, Luxembourg - Dr. Iva Holmerová, Czech Alzheimer‘s Society, Prague, Czech Re- public - Prof. Steve Iliffe, UCL Dept of Primary Care & Population Health, London and UK Dementias & Neurodegenerative Diseases Re- search Network DeNDRoN, London, United Kingdom - Prof. José Luis Molinuevo, Pasqual