Dementia diagnostic and treatment services in the Western Pacific: challenges, preparedness and opportunities in the face of amyloid-targeting therapies

Claire O'Callaghan; Johannes C Michaelian; Yoko Aihara; Veeda Michelle Anlacan; Christopher Chen; Gary Cheung; Etuini Ma'u; Tuan Anh Nguyen; Ming-Chyi Pai; Anna Palagyi; Maw Pin Tan; Shyh Poh Teo; Yuda Turana; Huali Wang; Gloria Wong; Sharon L Naismith

doi:10.1016/j.lanwpc.2024.101183

Dementia diagnostic and treatment services in the Western Pacific: challenges, preparedness and opportunities in the face of amyloid-targeting therapies

Lancet Reg Health West Pac. 2024 Sep 16:50:101183. doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2024.101183. eCollection 2024 Sep.

Authors

Claire O'Callaghan¹, Johannes C Michaelian², Yoko Aihara³, Veeda Michelle Anlacan⁴, Christopher Chen⁵, Gary Cheung⁶, Etuini Ma'u⁶, Tuan Anh Nguyen⁷, Ming-Chyi Pai⁸, Anna Palagyi⁹, Maw Pin Tan¹⁰, Shyh Poh Teo¹¹, Yuda Turana¹², Huali Wang¹³, Gloria Wong¹⁴, Sharon L Naismith²

Affiliations

¹ Brain and Mind Centre and School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Australia.
² Healthy Brain Ageing Program Brain and Mind Centre and Charles Perkins Centre, School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ Graduate School of Health Sciences, Okayama University, Japan.
⁴ Department of Neurosciences, College of Medicine and Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines.
⁵ Memory Aging and Cognition Centre, Departments of Pharmacology and Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
⁶ Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁷ National Ageing Research Institute; School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology; UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Australia.
⁸ Division of Behavioral Neurology, Department of Neurology, Medical College and Hospital, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁹ The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
¹⁰ Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
¹¹ PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam.
¹² Department of Neurology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
¹³ Dementia Care and Research Center, Peking University Institute of Mental Health (Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuanbei Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
¹⁴ Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong and School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Here we first review the limited available literature addressing the current landscape of specialist assessment services for dementia and cognitive decline and the preparedness for new amyloid-targeting therapies for Alzheimer's disease across the Western Pacific region. Considering the scarcity of literature, as national representatives of Western Pacific nations we were then guided by the World Health Organization's Global Action Plan on Dementia to provide country-specific reviews. As a whole, we highlight that the existing diverse socioeconomic and cultural landscape across the region poses unique challenges, including varying access to services and marked differences among countries in their preparedness for upcoming amyloid-targeting therapies for Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, there is an urgent call for intergovernmental collaboration and investment across the Western Pacific to ensure that for all nations, citizens living with dementia and cognitive decline have access to effective and equitable methods of diagnosis, treatment and care.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Amyloid-targeting therapies; Dementia; Memory clinics.

Publication types

Review