Sociol Health Illn. 2018 Apr 16. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12731. [Epub ahead of print]

At, with[,] and beyond risk: expectations of living with the possibility of future dementia.

Milne R1, Diaz A2, Badger S1, Bunnik E3, Fauria K4, Wells K5.

Author information

1

Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, UK.

2

Alzheimer Europe, Luxembourg.

3

Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

4

Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Barcelona, Spain.

5

Imperial College, London, UK.

Abstract

Biomedical research aimed at the development of therapies for chronic and late-onset conditions increasingly concentrates on the early treatment of symptom-less disease. This broad trend is evidenced in prominent shifts in contemporary dementia research. Revised diagnostic criteria and new approaches to clinical trials propose a focus on earlier stages of disease and prompt concerns about the implications of communicating test results associated with the risk of developing dementia when no effective treatments are available. This article examines expectations of the implications of learning test results related to dementia risk, based on focus group research conducted in the UK and Spain. It points to the extended social and temporal aspects of the dementia risk experience. Three key dimensions of this risk experience are elaborated: living 'at risk', represented in efforts to reduce risk and plan for the future; 'with risk', through vigilance towards cognitive health and earlier or prolonged contact with healthcare services; and finally, 'beyond risk' through a cessation of the self in its current social, legal and financial form. A virtual abstract of this paper can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_979cmCmR9rLrKuD7z0ycA.