Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia

Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are the most common neurodegenerative diseases. They are a major cause of loss of independence.

Our missions

  • Conduct epidemiological surveillance of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia: prevalence, incidence, trends over time, and geographic distribution

  • Providing information to public authorities and healthcare professionals

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What We Do

Epidemiological Surveillance of Alzheimer’s Disease

  • Due to the progressive aging of the population and the lack of curative treatments, the number of people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia is expected to grow steadily over the coming decades, leading to an increase in the burden of these diseases. In this context, implementing epidemiological surveillance has become essential.

  • Santé publique France conducts epidemiological surveillance of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in France. This surveillance provides data on the number of people affected, the number of new cases each year, and describes these figures by gender, age, and geographic distribution across France.

To this end, Santé publique France:

  • Develops epidemiological surveillance indicators to estimate the prevalence and incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and to describe their trends over time and geographic distribution. These indicators are derived from the medical-administrative databases of the National Health Data System (SNDS)¹ which integrates data on all healthcare utilization as well as hospital data from the Medical Information Systems Program (PMSI) covering both medicine, surgery, and obstetrics (MCO), follow-up and rehabilitation care (SSR), home hospitalization (HAD), and psychiatry (RIM-P).

  • Analysis of the determinants of the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

  • To address the need to produce epidemiological data useful for surveillance as well as research in the field of dementia, a systematic collection of data on patients from Memory Clinics and Memory Resource and Research Centers was made mandatory nationwide in 2009. These data are collected nationally in the National Alzheimer’s Bank (BNA), a database hosted by the Department of Public Health at the University Hospital of Nice.

  • Co-led, in collaboration with the Directorate General of Health (DGS), Measure 16 of the 2014–2019 Neurodegenerative Diseases Plan (PMND), aimed at “sustaining and improving the National Alzheimer’s Database.”

  • Analyzed, in collaboration with the team at the Nice University Hospital, the data collected within the BNA between January 2010 and December 2014 to assess their quality and the BNA’s ability to meet its established objectives.

  • Proposed areas for improvement to enable the BNA to fully fulfill its role as a tool for generating indicators for the epidemiological surveillance of dementia.

  • Serves on the BNA’s steering committee and scientific advisory board.

See also

Santé publique France is developing a new method to track changes in the cognitive and functional health of older adults using data collected by the French national health insurance system.

Contributing to discussions on the implementation of preventive measures

The following factors are associated with a lower risk of dementia: a high level of education, regular physical activity, a healthy diet, and early management of vascular risk factors (particularly high blood pressure and diabetes).
These factors are not specific to dementia, and the implementation of primary prevention measures could therefore focus on promoting healthy behaviors, as is already the case in other programs such as “aging in good health” or the mental health education program. The High Council for Public Health, in its report on the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (December 2017), recommends four areas of action:

  • raising awareness among the public and healthcare professionals about these diseases and prevention options,

  • promote prevention initiatives at key life stages (such as retirement) and for specific target groups (people with hypertension or diabetes, etc.),

  • incorporate dementia into the National Health Strategy and the future National Public Health Plan,

  • promote epidemiological surveillance and research on the prevention of these diseases.

While Santé publique France is not currently implementing specific actions on dementia prevention, the development of a life-stage approach to surveillance and prevention will help generate knowledge to address the various factors that promote healthy aging in the long term. The new population-based approach, “Health 40+,” aims to intervene starting in midlife through a combined strategy, targeting multiple determinants to achieve a positive synergistic effect on health.

  1. National Health Data System (SNDS): a medical-administrative database containing health care services covered by the National Health Insurance (doctor visits and medical procedures, medications, hospitalizations, etc.), medical causes of death, and a sample of data from supplemental health insurance providers. The data is linked while ensuring the anonymity of individuals.