Drug therapy could help prevention of Alzheimer's

The Canada Research Chair in prevention of Dementia is on P.E.I. this week to discuss his research into using anti-inflammatory drugs as a preventative measure against Alzheimer's.

John Breitner is a research scientist at the Douglas Institute in Montreal, and director of the Centre for Studies on Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease. He was the guest speaker Thursday at the Alzheimer Awareness Conference put on by the P.E.I. Alzheimer's' Society.

Research into Alzheimer's has come a long way since he began his career in 40 years ago as a geriatric psychiatrist, said Breitner.

While a lot of research has focused on a cure, or treatment, he said stopping the disease before it starts is the key.

"With chronic diseases it turns out the name of the game may be much more akin to prevention. And that's probably true for most things, like diabetes, heart disease and dementia," said Breitner.

'Timing is everything'

Every day things people can do to try to lower their risk of developing symptoms are a simple as eating properly, exercising regularly, keeping cholesterol and blood pressure under control, said Breitner.

'I do expect to see some major advances reducing risk … within my lifetime.'- John Breitner

"Timing is everything with this disease. It's a disease mainly of very old people," said Breitner,

"If you can postpone the onset by just a few years, very often you not only give people a few extra years of good life, but you may actually prevent them from getting the disease all together."

But Breitner said it can be difficult to stay in perfect health. That's why he's seeking out a pharmacological solution as well.

Breitner is currently conducting research on whether the anti-inflammatory Naproxen can prevent or delay symptoms.

"We're really much more interested in the whole method of trying to measure the effect of treatments in this so called pre-symptomatic stage," said Breitner,

"The earlier you can intervene, the better chance probably you have  of fundamentally altering the course of the disease," said Breitner.

Participants in the study are those with a high risk of developing Alzheimer's. The study is about three years away from being completed.

"I'm about to have my 71st birthday. So I do expect to see some major advances reducing risk, more than just symptomatic risk, within my lifetime," said Breitner.