PhD defence C.C. (Chiara) Brück

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation: 

Dementia is a brain condition affecting memory, thinking, learning, language, judgment, mood, and personality. Key features of dementia are that symptoms get worse over time and they become severe enough to disrupt daily life. Rather than being one specific disease, dementia includes a range of disorders that cause permanent brain damage. The most common type is Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia is common among older people and affects over 55 million people worldwide. This thesis introduces a new microsimulation model for dementia and demonstrates its use in addressing epidemiological and health-economic questions. The thesis is divided into three parts. In Part I – Dementia Disease Prognosis, two reviews of the literature are presented that investigate how long people with dementia live after their diagnosis, how long they live independently and how much time they spend in different severity stages. In Part II – Projections of Dementia Outcomes, the  development of the new microsimulation model MISCAN-Dementia is presented and its use is shown in two applications that predict the future burden of dementia in terms of dementia prevalence, and costs and quality of life. In Part III – Dementia Prevention and Intervention, the newly developed microsimulation model is used to evaluate prevention strategies for dementia. Two studies reporting on the participation in comparative modeling exercises for the evaluation of interventions are also included. In summary, this thesis introduces a new microsimulation model for dementia, providing valuable insights into the future burden of the disease.