[Good Brain 2023] Mook Inhee Emphasizes "Early Diagnosis of Dementia" ... "Research Funding Must Increase"

Voices Raised for the Need to Develop 'Biomarker' Diagnostic Methods
Highlighting Korea's Low Dementia R&D Investment Status

Mook In-hee, head of the Dementia Overcoming Research and Development Project Group, emphasized the necessity of ‘early diagnosis of dementia’ on the 20th.

Director Mook In-hee of the Dementia Overcoming Research and Development Project gave a lecture on "Trends in Domestic and International Dementia Research and Development and Future Competitiveness" at the "Good Brain 2023 Conference" held on the 20th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the same day, Mook appeared as a speaker at the ‘Good Brain 2023 Conference’ hosted by Asia Economy at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, stating, “If early diagnosis can reveal the extent to which beta-amyloid or tau proteins have accumulated in the brain 10 or 20 years ago, and treatment is started earlier, it will significantly delay onset and improve effectiveness.”

She particularly stressed the importance of developing early diagnostic methods for Alzheimer’s disease using ‘biomarkers.’ There are brain imaging biomarkers, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, and blood biomarkers, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages. Mook explained, “Brain imaging has high diagnostic accuracy and allows monitoring of progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia, but it has limitations such as high cost and long examination time. CSF biomarkers have lower costs than imaging and high accuracy but provide only numerical data and require skilled professionals for lumbar puncture.” Blood tests are relatively simple and inexpensive but tend to have lower accuracy. Therefore, Mook said, “Focused review on this is necessary.”

Mook raised her voice that investment in dementia research and development (R&D) should be prioritized. She pointed out the relatively low level of investment compared to cancer-related R&D. The domestic investment in cancer-related R&D was 371.1 billion KRW in 2020, 387.4 billion KRW in 2021, and 394.7 billion KRW last year, whereas dementia R&D recorded 98.1 billion KRW, 111.9 billion KRW, and 130.8 billion KRW during the same period.

She also compared the dementia R&D investment status between the United States and Korea. The U.S. dementia-related research funding increased to 3.8732 trillion KRW in 2020, 4.3889 trillion KRW in 2021, and 4.7439 trillion KRW last year. Mook said, “Although dementia is not yet a disease that feels as tangible as infectious diseases, the U.S. boldly invests a large amount of money in it every year. Korea’s research funding is increasing but still falls short of the U.S., so I think research funding needs to increase further.”

Along with this, she emphasized dementia prevention and management. As specific methods to reduce the impact of dementia risk factors, she introduced maintaining appropriate blood pressure from middle age around 40 years old, protecting hearing by avoiding excessive noise exposure, reducing indirect exposure to air pollution and smoking, preventing head injuries, refraining from misuse or excessive drinking of alcohol, providing elementary and secondary education to all children, preventing obesity and diabetes, and maintaining physical activity in middle age and, if possible, in old age.

Mook advised, “The risk related to smoking is as high as 5%, but since it can be quit, I strongly recommend quitting smoking. Although it was less common in the past, nowadays many people use earphones, causing rapid hearing loss, which accounts for 8% of the risk factors. Therefore, if you feel your hearing is poor, using a hearing aid immediately is also a good idea.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.