As our population continues to age, the number of people with dementia is set to skyrocket, a situation that geriatric medicine researcher A/Prof Michael Woodward has likened to a ‘tsunami that’s sadly almost bearing down on us’.

Dementia already affects more than 400,000 Australians and is the second-biggest cause of death, but it’s predicted that this will grow to 589,000 by 2028 and more than one million by 2058.

The debilitating condition causes a decline in memory, cognition and day-to-day functioning, a distressing process both for sufferers and their loved ones.

Two new medications for dementia are currently being trialled, giving hope for more effective treatment. One is a monoclonal antibody gantenerumab, designed to remove the toxic protein amyloid from the brains of people with dementia. Although earlier trials have been disappointing, a higher dose is now being trialled in several thousand participants, including at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital.