Preventing Dementia?

The conceptualization of dementia has changed dramatically in recent years with the claim that, through early detection and by controlling several risk factors, a prevention of dementia is possible. Although encouraging and providing hope against this feared condition, this claim is open to scrutiny. This volume looks at how this new conceptualization ignores many of the factors which influence a dementia sufferers' prognosis, including their history with education, food and exercise as well as their living in different epistemic cultures. The central aim is to question the concept of prevention and analyze its impact on aging people and aging societies.

Annette Leibing is a medical anthropologist and Full Professor at Université de Montréal. Her research focuses mostly on issues related to aging, by studying - as an anthropologist - Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in different contexts, aging and psychiatry, pharmaceuticals, elder care and, stem cells for the body in decline, among others.