There are major gaps in the understanding of population trends in dementia prevalence, incidence, risk factors and management. Funded by the National Medical Research Council we are performing a validation study using hospital electronic medical records, linked to several other sources of routinely collected state and commonwealth held data. Advanced analytic techniques such as machine learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) will be applied and algorithms developed to estimate dementia prevalence in the Peninsula Health region as well as nationally. The algorithms will be validated in a cohort of people with a clinically confirmed presence or absence of a dementia diagnosis. This will provide comprehensive robust data for monitoring frequency, risk factors, management, and outcomes for dementia. Results will provide the framework for a national approach to monitoring dementia and its management.

For further Information please contact Nadine Andrew – nadine.andrew@monash.edu