Alzheimer's Research UK: against COVID-19 ^Hub

Entity: Alzheimer's Research UK

Category: Hub

Description: Alzheimer's Research UK (ARUK) is the United Kingdom's leading dementia research charity, founded in 1992 as the Alzheimer's Research Trust. It is dedicated to funding scientific studies to find ways to treat, cure or prevent all forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia. As of 2019, Alzheimer's Research UK funds 139 research projects across the UK and internationally, and has committed more than £117 million to dementia research. Alzheimer's Research UK is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities.

Project: Supports Tracking COVID-19 Symptoms with King's College London App'.

As the UK’s leading dementia research charity, Alzheimer’s Research UK is asking people, especially those over the age of 70 and anyone with a pre-existing health issue such as dementia, diabetes, heart disease or another other age-related diseases to link up with their relatives, or log on themselves, to help build an accurate picture of how COVID-19 affects us all.

The smartphone app called 'COVID-19 Symptom Tracker' has been developed by King’s College London and health science company ZOE. It is endorsed by the Welsh Government, NHS Wales, the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland. More than 2.5 million people have downloaded the smartphone app and are using it to regularly report on their health. This will allow scientists to understand more about the symptoms and spread of the virus in the population. It is the largest public science project of its kind anywhere in the world. The COVID-19 Symptom Tracker app could also provide crucial information about how COVID-19 affects people with dementia, and ARUK is encouraging anyone who is currently caring for someone with dementia to help log daily symptom reports, with their loved one's consent, if they need support.