Scientific evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic may fuel a “dementia pandemic,” further aggravating the pre-pandemic status of mental health conditions as a leading cause of disability around the globe. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and of control strategies such as lockdown measures, including social isolation and feelings of loss, uncertainty, fear and/or dread, pose additional mental health challenges for the general population, but especially for vulnerable populations, such as those living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their caregivers. Moreover, recent data indicate that, in healthy individuals, COVID-19 may trigger degenerative effects leading to cognitive impairment and even AD symptoms.

However, while the COVID-19 pandemic is considered an important burden for mental health systems worldwide, it also serves as an unprecedented global experiment that provides unique opportunities for understanding genetic pathways shared between infectious disease and neurodegeneration, as well as for studying the predictors and mechanisms of increased resilience to dementia on both individual and societal levels. Research currently underway in this field may shed new light on how to improve mental health outcomes.

The Disputatio of Barcelona 2021, entitled, “Mental health and pandemics: burden and resilience,” will address the aforementioned issues with the goal of providing an invaluable dialogue among expert scientists on the relationship between mental health and pandemics. The session seeks to find consensus on priorities and possible paths forward as stakeholders establish action plans for the mid- and long-term.

Serving as the two disputantes for the debate are: Arcadi Navarro, MAE, ICREA Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University and Director of the Pasquall Maragall Foundation, Barcelona; and Eider Arenaza-Urquijo, Research Team Leader at the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, Barcelona.

The event will take place at the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC, c/Carme, 47. 08001 Barcelona), Coromines Hall, on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. If you are interested in attending in-person, please RSVP by e-mail to barcelona@acadeuro.org.

The event will also be streamed live on IEC’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/JUVdviptZVo

Barcelona Knowledge Hub: http://barcelona.acadeuro.org
Email: barcelona@acadeuro.org
Hub contact: Kimberly Katte: barcelona@acadeuro.org

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