People with memory problems who are told they do not have dementia – but might get it in future – are left in limbo, uncertain about their future and with few services to help them. Research is underway into a programme that may help them reduce their risk of dementia. As more emphasis is put ...

Those who care for people with dementia are likely to report a better quality of life if they also work outside the home. This may be linked to higher self-esteem. A study included almost 1,300 people caring for relatives with dementia. It found that carers with jobs outside the home were likely to be younger ...

Around two-thirds of family carers of people with dementia experience loneliness. Almost half are moderately lonely and a fifth are severely lonely, reports one of the first large scale studies to look at this issue. Carers who felt lonely tended to have lower wellbeing, smaller social networks, and more stress associated with caregiving. A poor-quality ...

One-third of people with mild-to-moderate dementia experience loneliness. 30% are moderately lonely and 5% are severely lonely, reports one of the first major studies to look at the issue. These figures are comparable to the general population of older people. People with dementia who live alone, and who experience social isolation, depression and lower quality ...

People with late-stage Parkinson’s disease have complex, unmet needs, but their voices are often not heard, say researchers. One-on-one interviews revealed that people in this group need more flexible, personalised care at home and in the community to help them manage their symptoms and maintain control over their condition. The research also highlights the need ...

Older people who feel lonely and have few close relationships may have an increased chance of developing dementia. Perhaps surprisingly, being socially isolated with few or infrequent social contacts does not seem to predict dementia risk, researchers found. This study was carried out before the coronavirus pandemic but the findings are relevant now, when the ...

Taking melatonin around the time of surgery is linked with lower odds of delirium onset in older people, compared with placebo or no treatment. In a systematic review and meta-analysis, around 15% of the melatonin group developed delirium after surgery compared with around 20% of the comparison group. Delirium is an acute state of mental ...

Multiple occupational therapy sessions, provided in a person with dementia’s own home, improve their ability to carry out daily activities, compared with usual care. Improvements are also seen in behavioural and psychological symptoms and their quality of life. In addition, carers report feeling less distress, and a better quality of life. This study was a systematic ...

The less healthy your lifestyle, the more you are at risk of developing dementia in later life, a new systematic review has shown. Researchers analysed the results of 18 studies with over 44,000 participants. Having two or more ‘modifiable risk factors’, including smoking, high blood pressure, poor diet, inactivity, obesity and excessive alcohol consumption, puts ...

In My Signals, health and social care staff and service users tell us what research is important to them and why they feel others need to know about it. In this collection, we asked seven occupational therapists to tell us which Signals have interested them most and explain why they feel the findings are worth ...