Dementia sufferers set to double every 20 years

[tpsbmam]

Source: The Independent (UK)

The number of people with dementia will almost double every 20 years across the world, researchers predicted today.

British experts calculated figures for the number of people worldwide who will suffer dementia , including Alzheimer's disease, in the future.

The fact people are living longer than ever before is a major factor driving the increasing incidence of dementia .

Today's study estimates that the number of people with dementia and Alzheimer's will almost double every 20 years worldwide, to 65.7 million in 2030 and 115.4 million in 2050.

A total of 35.6 million people will have dementia in 2010, the report said.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/dementia-sufferers-set-to-double-every-20-years-1790997.html

[goclark]

1. No! Please tell me this is not true

:cry: There has got to be a cure ~ I watch my mother suffer with Alzheimer's every day.

It is so painful to see her this way.

So many others

[TwilightGardener]

2. It's on both sides of my family, so I'm kind of doomed, genetically.

Wonder if the herpes virus link is true--that if you get cold sores a lot, you are more susceptible? Read that somewhere recently.

[ginnyinWI]

6. supplements might help

Take daily: fish oil capsule 1200 mg and vitamin D 1000 mg--and some gingko probably wouldn't hurt either.

[Blue Diadem]

10. B12 is important too. n/t

[LibDemAlways]

3. And our health care system is clueless as to how to deal with it.

I live in an area where the only hospital has no mental health facilities at all. Families of people with dementia are on their own. Having recently buried my dad who suffered from it, I speak from experience when I say it is a nightmarish, hellish experience for patient and caregiver alike - and these statistics are frightening.

[ensho]

4. is this growing problem included anywhere in the health reform bills

it has got to the point where it cannot be ignored.

[bertman]

5. This is a function of our progress in battling disease. Our bodies are machines that

wear out. But we ask our medical benefactors to make us immortal--or as immortal as they can with their limited knowledge and resources.

Having a number of dementia and alzheimers sufferers in my family, I am well aware of the consequences and hardships that come with family members who are afflicted.

There is always yin for the yang, reaction to the action. This is the price we pay for having better nutrition, medicine, pesticides to kill mosquitoes, etc. etc.

[kestrel91316]

7. Doesn't surprise me. I have two theories about all this dementia:

) aluminum cookware
2) bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy

JMHO

And there won't be any cures. There is only prevention. Which would cut into some corporations' profits, so it won't be done.

[Barack_America]

8. I'm waiting for the study comparing dementia risk to Fox News viewing.

[Stand and Fight]

9. My father is only 52.

Just found out a couple of weeks ago that he's suffering from an early onset of dementia. Since it's typically a symptom of other diseases, we're hoping it's not Alzheimer's. (I'm especially hoping not. I'm only 31!)