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The 3rd International Symposium on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in the Middle East, Istanbul, Turkey, October 1 – 2, 2005

The 3rd International Symposium on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related disorders was held in the Middle East on October 1–2, 2005, in Istanbul, Turkey. Participants were attracted from many countries in the Middle East, including, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. Participants also attended from Belarus, Canada, Cyprus, India, Iran, Mexico, South Korea, the USA, the UK and Turkey. The Symposium was convened by Robert Friedland of Cleveland and organized by a local committee chaired by Murat Emre of Istanbul. The 2-day program featured sessions dealing with the basic sciences of dementia, the special issues of dementia in the Middle East, genetics, epidemiology, differential diagnosis, treatment, and caregiving, with a poster session. This report highlights presentations from the meeting. The previous meeting which took place in Istanbul May, 2003 was summarized in Amyloid: J Protein Folding Disorders 2004;11:276–280. Presentations from the October 2005 meeting can be viewed at the meeting website at www.worldeventsforum.com/ alz.htm. AD is a problem with immense worldwide implications. Life expectancy is increasing around the world and because AD doubles every 5 years after the age 65 in incidence and prevalence, it will undoubtedly become a greater problem in the future. For nearly all of human history, most people were young. It is believed that from the 21st century onward, however, most people will be old because of lower death rates. Declining death rates have been found in world populations through the 20th century, attributable to medical advances and improved standard of living. In the USA, from 1950 to 2000, the probability of surviving from age 80 to 100 increased 20-fold. These trends are found all over the world, including developing countries. AD and related disorders have received relatively little attention in countries in the Middle East, in part because the percentage of Middle Eastern populations over age 65 is lower than in North America and Europe. However, populations in the Middle East are aging just as they are everywhere else in the world.