[100-Year Brain Health⑦] Han Chang-su "Need to Increase Dementia Specialty Hospitals for Management... National-Level Improvement Efforts Required"

<Meeting Dementia and Mental Health Experts>
Professor Han Chang-su, Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Guro Hospital

When it reaches the stage of becoming violent,
family members also experience burnout

Neurology, internal medicine, psychiatry, etc.
Comprehensive management of comorbidities is necessary

Overcoming dementia is practically difficult
The term is too derogatory
It should be changed to something simpler like 'Injijeung' (cognitive impairment)

Professor Han Chang-su, Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Guro Hospital

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] "Dementia not only destroys the daily lives of patients but also those of their families and their economic activities. It is essential to prevent dementia early and maintain brain health well."

Professor Changsoo Han of the Department of Psychiatry at Korea University Guro Hospital said in an interview with Asia Economy on the 6th, "The most important factor in dementia management is the family," adding, "When ‘dementia behavioral and psychological symptoms’ occur?where patients become violent and even hit their family members, beyond just memory loss or physical decline?caregiving families can experience burnout."

Professor Han emphasized that to overcome this, the number of dementia-specialized hospitals must increase. Although dementia-specialized hospitals currently exist, he stated that comprehensive management should be possible not only for neurology but also for internal medicine, psychiatry, and other concurrent diseases. He said, "Patients exhibiting behavioral and psychological symptoms, auditory hallucinations, or delusions are often refused admission or placement in nursing hospitals or facilities," and stressed, "It is the nation’s responsibility to increase dementia-specialized hospitals capable of treating Lewy body dementia or dementia with psychosis, which show such symptoms, and to establish a support system to manage these patients."

This is also why Professor Han emphasized the ‘3 Rights, 3 Prohibitions, and 3 Actions.’ The 3 Rights encourage habits that can prevent dementia, such as diet management, physical exercise, and brain exercise; the 3 Prohibitions advise against habits that can cause or worsen dementia, such as alcohol, smoking, and head injuries. Lastly, the 3 Actions promote preventive activities like health checkups, early dementia screening, and social activities to detect or delay dementia early.

Regarding ‘overcoming dementia,’ he drew a certain line. Professor Han said, "The term ‘overcome’ implies completely eradicating the disease, which is difficult," and added, "Personally, there do not seem to be many such cases yet." He further diagnosed, "With an aging population structure, senile and vascular dementia related to aging are increasing again," and "the prevalence of dementia will continue to rise."

However, he noted, "Alcohol-related dementia and dementia caused by nutritional deficiencies, which were common in the past, seem to be decreasing as the country develops," and suggested, "National efforts are needed to improve various dementia factors, such as operating exercise programs for the elderly and making participation a condition for pension payments, as seen in overseas cases, in addition to controlling tobacco and alcohol."

Professor Han also said that the term ‘dementia’ itself should be reconsidered. Dementia is a word created by combining two Chinese characters meaning ‘foolish’ and ‘stupid.’ It was coined in the late 19th century in Japan as a translation of ‘dementia,’ and because it implies foolishness, it has been continuously criticized as excessively derogatory language.

He explained, "Ultimately, it means losing one’s mind, but that is not the case in the early stages of dementia," adding, "Japan has already changed the term to ‘cognitive impairment,’ and countries like Korea and the United States use terms such as neurocognitive disorder." However, since dementia is still widely used, he said, "As simple words are replacing difficult ones, there is a need to discuss creating easy terms like ‘cognitive impairment.’"

One of the methods Professor Han is researching to overcome dementia is ‘memory editing.’ Like something out of a sci-fi movie, it is a technology that connects the brain to digital devices to upload and download memories as auxiliary memory. He cautiously noted, "It is still at the stage of some animal experiments, and ethical issues may arise," but explained, "It started from the concept of being able to implant intact memories to prevent dementia." Professor Han added, "When memories related to finding a maze were implanted into snails that had never learned how to navigate a maze, they were able to find the maze," and said, "I am participating in designing and applying this in animal experiments together with neuroengineers."