More than 275 people have attended the event to promote Alzheimer's prevention through healthy lifestyle habits.When you take care of yourself, Alzheimer's takes a step back"organised by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation. The meeting, held at the CaixaForum in Madrid, is part of the organisation's work to raise social awareness, a key aspect of its mission along with its contribution to research into the disease.
The Dr Nina Gramunt, a neuropsychologist and expert in training and dissemination from the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, was in charge of leading the session and explained the origin of Alzheimer's: “Only 1% cases are due to purely genetic causes. Alzheimer's is a disease with a multifactorial origin, composed of non-modifiable factors, such as age or genetics, and modifiable factors, such as those related to cardiovascular risk control or those related to lifestyle, which contribute to its development..”
In addition, the importance of early detection and cutting-edge research has been detailed as key elements for secondary and tertiary prevention in the evolution of the disease. At this point, Dr. Gramunt has highlighted the work of the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, he Pasqual Maragall Foundation Research Center, and its Alpha cohort, driven by the “la Caixa” Foundation, one of the most relevant population samples for Alzheimer's research. “Thanks to the more than 2,700 cognitively healthy people who are part of this longitudinal cohort and voluntarily undergo exhaustive testing, we can get closer to understanding the evolution of the disease and identifying the risk factors that could initiate its development.", has highlighted the Dr. Gramunt.
The role of caregivers
The meeting also discussed the role of caregivers in ensuring the best possible well-being for those suffering from the disease. In 8 out of 10 cases, this role usually falls to the family, who spend around 70 hours a month caring for the person with Alzheimer's.
In this situation, promoting self-care and the physical and mental health of caregivers is essential to ensure adequate care for the person with Alzheimer's. For this reason, the expert has highlighted initiatives such as the online program "Learn to take care of yourself and others”, through which the Pasqual Maragall Foundation creates support groups for family caregivers in Madrid and throughout the country, offering resources and tools for managing the day-to-day life of a person affected by the disease, fundamentally promoting the well-being of those who care.
