Young Onset Dementia

Chair:     
Raymond Koopmans, The Netherlands

Steering Committee:  
Olusegun Baiyewu, Nigeria
David Conn, Canada
Meredith Gresham, Australia
Aud Johannessen, Norway
Yung-Jen Yang, Taiwan

With the rising prevalence of dementia, numbers of people with Young Onset Dementia will probably increase too. Young onset dementia is increasingly being recognized as an important psychosocial and medical health problem with serious consequences for both patients and their families. In several countries it is acknowledged that this group of people, in which dementia started before the age of 65 years, has special needs and therefore a need for support and health care services that are particularly designed to fit those needs. However, the number of these special health care services is scarce.

Main Objectives of the Young Onset Dementia Shared Interest Forum:

• Establishing a network of professionals and researchers that are involved in the care and research of people with Young Onset Dementia
• Exchanging ideas between countries in order to improve care for people with Young Onset Dementia
• Establish international research projects