Seminars in Ageing: The importance of delirium in the development of late-life dementia

Presenter: Associate Professor Hannah Keage, University of South Australia

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About the presentation

Delirium is a neurocognitive disorder, characterised by acute and fluctuating impairments in cognition and arousal.  It can occur at any age but is most common in late-life.  It is precipitated by an acute insult, such as surgery, and varies in its presentation, severity, and duration. This presentation will cover our work investigating the neuropsychology and neurophysiology of delirium and delirium vulnerability (those at high risk), and discuss how this knowledge informs the understanding of the trajectory of delirium to dementia in late-life.

About the presenter

Hannah completed her PhD at Flinders University, identifying cognitive and neurophysiological correlates of AD/HD subtypes in children. Between 2007 and 2011 she undertook post-doctoral positions at the University of Cambridge, working on longitudinal cohort studies of ageing and dementia with brain donation programs, with Professor Carol Brayne. Over this time Hannah held an EC Marie Curie Fellowship.  

In 2011 she returned to Australia, taking up an academic position in psychology at the University of South Australia.  Since then, she has held NHMRC Early Career and Boosting Dementia Research Leadership Fellowships and is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology, President of the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society, and member of the Australian Academy of Sciences Committee for the Brain and Mind and co-lead the Cognitive Ageing and Impairment Neurosciences (CAIN) Lab (www.cain.science).  Her work focuses on cognitive ageing and cognitive impairments, such as dementia and delirium, using neuropsychological and psychophysiological approaches.

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Further information: [email protected]