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.

Silke Schicktanz is Professor of Cultural and Ethical Studies of Biomedicine at the Institute of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University Medical Center Göttingen. Her recent books include co-editing Planning Later Life: Bioethics and Public Health in Ageing Societies (Routledge, 2017) and Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation: Interdisciplinary perspectives from India, Germany and Israel (Palgrave MacMillian, 2018).