Global estimates place the number of dementia patients at several millions, and the number is rising daily. Doctors are urging customised treatments because there are so many different elements that can affect someone's risk of acquiring Alzheimer's.
A new artificial intelligence technology has been created by an American company called uMethod Health that will be extremely helpful to doctors.
The North Carolina-based company has created an AI tool called RestoreU to help physicians create personalised care plans for patients.
RestoreU is designed to assist doctors in identifying dementia's treatable causes and developing individualised treatment programmes for individual patients.
Patients who are beginning to experience mild cognitive impairment and are in the early stages of dementia benefit the most from the instrument.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, co-founder and CEO of uMETHOD Health Vik Chandra said, "Dementia is what's called a complex disease." That means there are multiple underlying causes that eventually lead a patient to develop dementia over time."
"Its job is not to help the doctor diagnose the patient, but to help the doctor assess the treatable causes and then put the patient on the correct treatment," he explained.
"It's really about improving the care," he added. "It's not about seeing how far along they might be or whether they have dementia - it's what to do to help that patient's cognitive health."
According to Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI), "someone in the world develops dementia every 3 seconds. There are over 55 million people worldwide living with dementia. This number will almost double every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050. Much of the increase will be in developing countries."
"Already, 60% of people with dementia live in low and middle-income countries, but by 2050, this will rise to 71%. The fastest growth in the elderly population is taking place in China, India, and their south Asian and western Pacific neighbours."
