The number of people with dementia is increasing rapidly across the globe, with approximately 250,000 individuals affected in Hungary alone. However, due to the difficulty in recognizing the early symptoms, the actual number is likely much higher. When including family members, about 10 percent of the total population can be affected. Compared to the 1980s, the proportion of people over 65 has significantly increased, and while life expectancy at birth has risen, the number of years spent in good health has not kept pace. “Therefore, there is still a lot to do,” said Dr. Attila Beneda, Deputy State Secretary for Family and Population Policy at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation.

A Spiritual and Material Burden in One

In recent decades, there has been a growing awareness of dementia, a disease that places a severe burden on families and society. It has been highlighted that the costs associated with caring for dementia patients are rising dramatically, yet only 10 percent receive treatment due to the challenges in recognizing the disease during its initial stages. “It is even a major challenge for a general practitioner to filter out the symptoms of dementia, although patients need to be directed as soon as possible,” said the deputy secretary of state, who had previously worked as a doctor in primary care.

Attila Beneda went on to say that while there are known risk factors, the exact causes of dementia are not well understood. During his career, he classified the modifiable risk factors for dementia: low education, hearing disorders, smoking, depression, social isolation, sedentary lifestyle, obesity. Hypertension, diabetes, traumatic brain injury, and even air pollution (only 2 percent) can increase the chances of developing a mental disorder. After the onset of symptoms, physical and mental activity can slow down the deterioration of the condition. As he said, the government is preparing for the disease with a national dementia program.

It is a social group that needs help but cannot represent their interests

Dr. Norbert Vajda, Director General of Catholic Charity Service

Dr. Norbert Vajda, Director General of Catholic Charity Service, emphasized that it is time to address dementia without stigmatization. He pointed out that in 2015, in cooperation with the State Secretariat, the Interprofessional Dementia Fund Program was created. As part of this, at least seven hundred workers were trained for special elderly care.

They sought to put the form of care invented by professionals into practice, and with the help of health promotion agencies to prepare society to care for dementia patients, draw attention to the phenomenon with short films, and keep free information lessons to relatives. Norbert Vajda added that in 2025 they continue to work to support family members of those living with dementia in their difficult life.

Many Families Do Not Know What They Are Facing

In Hungary, at least half of the elderly living in social homes are demented, most of them only determined by the specialist. Csaba Maja, head of the methodological working group of the Hungarian Malta Charity Service, said that they provide 2,532 elderly people in 33 institutions nationwide. An online survey was launched in 2023. The questionnaires were filled in by 270 employees from 24 institutions in half a year, with information about the 606 dementia-diagnosed care and provision of dementia. Although 40 percent of the 1,503 were experts, their caregivers believed 60 percent showed signs of dementia. Two-thirds of them were diagnosed after the institutional recording, and many family members either did not know about the disease or the possibility of treatment.

The main reasons for the maintenance were the deteriorated health that he needed 24-hour supervision and is unable to self-sufficiency. Their study revealed that approximately 18.5 percent were not capable of self-sufficiency at all, 21 percent required full service, 63.7 percent use diapers, and 65.7 percent cannot clean it on their own. 72 percent require significant help or cannot provide for itself. With regard to diaper use, he said that they are working so that this is not the safer way for nurses. He believes that the quality of life of those care must also be improved.

No matter how they live their daily lives in the home

He underlined. Employees also expressed their opinion on what means to support it. “Unfortunately, the professional capacities are limited, while providing dementia requires special preparation,” he said. In their view, those over the age of 45 take care of the elderly with heart and soul but many of them will retire soon, within 5-10 years, and they choose to deal with grandchildren. As he mentioned, the exhausting power of the West also affects the social sphere, and these wages cannot be competed at home, so he believes that providing professional advancement can be more retaining. The social welfare system must be strengthened – he emphasized, mentioning as a further problem that many people are puzzled about the administration of psychiatric patients, and he believes that a closer medical consultation would require. “If the Aunt knew where the washbasin was, but if she couldn’t find the exit, we might have given too strong medication,” he said as an example in dementia.

Csaba Maja said that they also hold information programs in university towns, where their young volunteers can contribute to mental support for the residents of the elderly, with pets, pancakes, singing and dancing. At Christmas, elementary school students chose a grandmother or grandfather for themselves, who made the celebration with a nice message and postcard. As he emphasized, such initiatives also serve to be able to identify the problem as soon as possible with the wider knowledge of the disease. And when entering the institution, they try to facilitate the change of environment for both the elderly and their families through a professional guide for a moving crisis.

What Can Be Used in Care as Well

According to Csaba Majt, artificial intelligence can play an increasingly important role in screening and care. In an institution, a camera analysis, warning software has been tested, which notifies the nurse if the person is in the washroom for 20 minutes and does not return or fall; But no alarm if he just leaned down.

Józsefné Cserbán, an elderly expert at the Malta Charity Service, also talked about the technological innovation of the technological innovation can help elderly care. Student software can support personal-centered care, which, in its experience, is particularly pronounced in the case of dementors, as the disease requires special preparedness and communication can work in different ways.

In the case of low care capacity, technology may be required, which can provide support for the state monitoring, personal safety, social relationships, activity promotion, and emergency alarms. “In a department of 20-60 people with one or two sisters, a health patch that digitally indicates immediately if there is blood oxygen, blood pressure and blood sugar differences,” he said in a series of innovative developments.

Ten years before the appearance of Alzheimer’s disease, responsible for 65-70 percent of dementia, blood detectable. More and more research is about retina analysis, but hearing testing can also indicate the disease. Lifestyle factors can influence the appearance of dementia, 60 percent of unknown origin. As factors of prevention are often mentioned in motion, smoking, weight control, and lifelong learning. Effective drugs are being researched worldwide, with more than 140 active ingredients currently conducting 170 clinical trials. Alzheimer’s disease is available in the United States and the United Kingdom, and the European Union is still in talks with the manufacturer due to side effects. In terms of mechanism of action, one formulation inhibits the deposition of protein polish, and the other increases their dissolution in the brain at an early stage.

Robot Grass, Applications for the Elderly

The elderly expert said about diagnostic technologies that early detection can slow down the deterioration of the condition, which can be used to gain valuable years of life. Due to drastic events, it is realized in the family that elderly relatives suffer from dementia. It is common for him to wander and the police take him home. Such situations have been added to Vibert with a new feature, in which the applicant’s relative is helped by the application by sending a message to their friends to describe the person you are looking for. The recipients are also asked by the application that you will also report back, if they do not see the person you are looking for nearby. This can filter out the areas where the missing person needs to be searched. Few people can use the cognitive tests of general practitioners in the elderly due to lack of human resources.

There are promising applications for the condition that the doctor can take from a distance know check the patient’s speech and walk. Ten years ago, he had seen an application in Norway, which made the doctor from moving the neck from moving the neck. In the challenging care situations that are challenging in the dementias, like “what to do if I can’t move away from my mom one meter,” he thinks that the application developed for such situations can be helped. In the more advanced phase of brain atrophy, this often happens, he explained.

There is hardly any advanced country where elderly care robot technology, which is called to eradicate loneliness called the dementia, would not appear. In fact, loneliness leads to a rapid deterioration when the disease appears. Research has shown that communication is produced in the elderly, which is responsible for trust and attachment, even when the robot is interacted. “There is a robotic boot that expands their pupils, which also affects them, and they can bring them out of the anxious state,” the elderly expert said.

Digital Sensitization

Ted A dementia simulation avatar with artificial intelligence-driven software programmed thousands of hours of dementia communications. In Australia, the nurses are prepared for special care situations with mentor. The Avatar, Annie, can be answered by professionals in the island country. How the technologies used at home can help those with dementia. There is where the tablet fixed to the wheelchair with a yellow and blue strip show during travel, which road leads to the washroom and which one to the dining room.

VR glasses can also be used for sensitization, preparing workers and relatives how the elderly dementia feels at a given place. Through an Australian example, he has tried what a dementia man means to a room and what causes him to fear. In this way, nurses know better how patients should create a safe environment. In closing, he also noted that for those living with dementia as part of an EU program, with our country cooperation 17 countries will soon be jointly digital well-being develop for two years.