Worldwide healthcare cost valued one trillion US-dollar.

The needs of persons with dementia (PwD) and their caregivers are chronic, multimodal, and cumulative and thus, require support from both health and social care. Population-based dementia care research needs to address clinical and primary care, nursing care, social, economic and health system questions. Translational health care research include analyses of health care, development and maintenance of evidence-based qualifications for health professionals, development of complex modular interventions for optimizing dementia treatment and care, and the evaluation of the safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of innovative interventions in various settings as well as the translation of effective concepts or evidence in routine care.

The group´s main achievements and goals are (1) to establish a platform for interventional research in primary care, (2) integrate transdisciplinary topics in research, like health economy and research ethics, (3) to translate scientific results into routine care and (4) exchange with health policy and stakeholders.

Primary care is the health care setting where most of the people with dementia are diagnosed and treated. To achieve a high impact on the health care system, research is needed that addresses real world problems and that benefit the primary health care system. Furthermore, low-threshold access is needed to PwD and their caregivers to conduct relevant research and translate research findings from basic and clinical research into routine care and back. Therefore, we have established a primary care research platform, that will allow translational research close to routine care and that will be of significant value for further and future primary care research.

Health care research is trans- and interdisciplinary in its research questions and methodological approaches. Single disciplines like health economy, pharmacy, and ethics are important areas at the DZNE Rostock/Greifswald and various sites at DZNE can benefit from this. There is a need to increase the importance and visibility of transdisciplinary topics and challenges to integrate the DZNE more into the international health care research.

Translational research has become a priority over the last decades, including an effective translation of new knowledge generated by advances in science into practice. This translation from science to practice is important to improve patients’ health. Patients for whom a study intervention is intended need to be involved in the conceptualization, planning and all other stages of research process. Transparent communication with health policy and stakeholders in the health care system support that new approaches are ultimately implemented effectively.