Background

The 10/66 investigators at Bellagio, 2006 – Back row Natalya Mikhaylova, Juan Llibre de Rodriguez (Cuba), Daisy Acosta (Dominican Republic), ES Krishnamoorthy (India), Cleusa Ferri (UK), Ana Luisa Sosa (Mexico), Melanie Legg (ADI, UK), Mira Josic de Hernandez (Venezuela), Martin Prince (UK) – Front Row (Ana Lichatriowicz (BBC, UK), Richard Uwakwe (Alambra, Nigeria), Kathleen Hall (USA/ Nigeria project), Mariella Guerra (Peru), Renata Sousa (UK), Aquiles Salas (Venezuela), Yueqin Huang (China)

Our Vision

10/66 aims to provide a detailed evidence-base to inform the development and implementation of policies for improving the health and social welfare of older people in low and middle income countries, particularly the 14 million people with dementia, their relatives and carers.

Our Mission

• To estimate the numbers of persons with dementia in those countries and regions where little or no research has been carried out
• To use these studies to learn more about the genetic and environmental causes of dementia
• To describe care arrangements for people with dementia
• To quantify the impact of dementia and other chronic health conditions on disability, dependency and caregiver strain
• To encourage the development of support services, and to test their effectiveness
• To collaborate with other work groups to study topics in social gerontology, nutritional health, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders
• To disseminate these research findings widely, in the communities where we carry out the research, to policymakers, opinion formers, civil society and the public at large.

The 10/66 Dementia Research Group includes 30 research groups in 20 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, India, Russia, China and SE Asia.

The 10/66 pilot studies were carried out by 28 research groups in 18 countries.

Our Centres

Eleven of these research groups have gone on to conduct population based studies, with 2 new groups joining at this stage. The population based studies include 18 catchment areas in 12 countries. The caregiver randomised controlled trial is nested within the population based study in 7 centres. The incidence phase of the population based study is currently being implemented in 8 countries.

The 10/66 Dementia Research Group has prioritised projects in countries and regions where little or no previous research has been carried out.

Pilot study research groups
Population-based study centres

Our Context

Low and middle income countries are currently experiencing unprecedented rates of demographic ageing, leading to rapid increases in the absolute numbers of older people and their proportion among the total population. At the same time, changing habits and lifestyles are leading to increases in the incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases, just as childhood, maternal and infectious diseases are beginning to be controlled (the health transition). Already nearly two-thirds of people with dementia live in Low and Middle Income Countries (LAMICs). However, these numbers will increase sharply over the next 20 to 40 years, giving little time for poorer nations to develop the raft of social and healthcare reforms that will be necessary to meet this challenge. Research into risk factors for dementia in developing countries will help to plan future prevention strategies in these regions, as well as possibly providing new insights into risk factors that were not apparent from research that was limited to developed countries with their fairly homogenous lifestyles and predominately Caucasian populations.

Demographic ageing
The health transition
Global burden of dementia
Developed / developing country differences
Risk factors for dementia