Dementia, including Alzheimer disease is now the leading cause of death in Australia according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (2024), Causes of Death, Australia report.

Alzheimer disease is most common in people over the age of 65 years and accounts for 60-80% of dementia diagnoses. Early onset Alzheimer disease is diagnosed under the age of 65 years (usually 35-55 years) and is more likely to be caused by variants in one of three known genes.

New treatments to slow the progression of Alzheimer disease have been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Genetic testing can identify patients who have an increased chance of severe side effects to these medications. Neurologists and geriatricians can now order genomic testing to guide treatment decisions in Alzheimer Disease.

Join geriatrician Associate Professor Paul Yates and neurologist Associate Professor Emma Devenney to learn more about:

• Relevance of genetic testing for Alzheimer disease
• Types of genetic tests available and possible results
• Patients who may benefit and Medicare eligibility
• Practicalities of ordering tests
• Consent and other considerations.

Presenters

Associate Professor Paul Yates is a geriatrician and clinician-researcher with expertise in dementia and geriatric medicine in hospital and community settings (including residential aged care). He is director of research at the Cognitive, Dementia and Memory Service, Continuing Care division, Austin Health, and clinical associate professor with the Department of Medicine, Austin Health, University of Melbourne.

He has extensive experience as Principal or Sub-Investigator on clinical trials in Alzheimer disease and is Lead National Principal Investigator for the pivotal CLARITY (Lecanemab) Study, first disease-modifying trial for Alzheimer disease to achieve success in its primary endpoint. He has been heavily involved with the implementation of disease modifying dementia treatments in Australia, and is Chair of the Australian Dementia Network Novel Dementia Therapies Community of Practice, with over 260 members around the country.

Associate Professor Emma Devenney is a neurologist and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) early career fellow. She obtained her medical degree at Queen’s University, Belfast, United Kingdom. She completed her neurology training through the tertiary neurology unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and also spent time as the neuroimmunology fellow at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. She was awarded a UNSW international PhD scholarship in 2013 and completed her PhD in 2016. Since then, she was awarded the Beryl Bayley Motor Neurone Disease Research Australia (MNDRA) post-doctoral fellowship and most recently, an NHMRC investigator grant to advance research into identifying and understanding biomarkers for the detection and monitoring of neurodegenerative diseases.

A/Prof Devenney is currently the Principal Investigator on the DIAN study (Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network), an international study of familial Alzheimer disease funded by the US National Institute on Ageing.