AS new studies in Britain and Ireland reveal the frightening statistics behind the Dementia epidemic, a leading charity here has called on people to take the illness more seriously.
“It’s often just seen as people going a bit dotty,” said Dr Simon Ridley, head of research with Alzheimer’s Research UK. “This is the biggest failure. People have not always appreciated that dementia is an illness.”
In the past week, studies in both Britain and Ireland have revealed that women are far more likely to suffer from Dementia than men.
Additionally, women are two-and-a-half times more likely than their male counterparts to be carers of people with Dementia.
In Britain there are currently about 500,000 women with Dementia, while about 350,000 men have the condition.
This is echoed in Ireland, where the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland (ASI) revealed that 30,000 women are living with Dementia compared to 17,000 men.
While there is no solid theory to explain the significant gender gap, Dr Ridley believes life expectancy may be one possibility.
“Age is a huge risk factor,” he said. “Women tend to live longer than men and it makes a big difference the older you get.”
Dr Ridley, a Trinity College Dublin graduate based in Cambridge, is directly involved with the charity’s Dementia research efforts.
“It’s an illness that is nowhere near fully understood – and an area for research,” he said.
Head of research with Alzheimer's Research UK, Dr Simon RidleyDementia is becoming more and more widespread, with the World Health Organisation estimating that by the year 2050, 115million people worldwide will suffer from it.
Dr Ridley believes that, aside from the fact that some wrongly view Dementia as a minor disease, its impact on family members and carers should be appreciated more.
“Many doctors feel like they have two patients with Dementia,” he said. “There is the person suffering from Dementia and there’s the person who is picking up the pieces.”
This sentiment is resonated by Margaret* – an Irishwoman living in London who is a full-time carer for her mother.
“I think it can be difficult to share the responsibility and it falls on one person,” she said.
Margaret comes from a large Irish family, most of whom are based in Britain, and she has been the sole carer for her elderly mother for almost four years.
She has found that other family members, though extremely supporting and loving, are unaware of the burden of responsibility that falls on the carer.
She believes having a network of like-minded individuals in place is key.
“I think it’s very important to have a support network and just to get out and about,” she said. “To talk to people who are in the same situation and who have the same feeling of guilt is so important - I feel I should be doing more and to know everyone in my shoes feels the same is a relief.”
The impact of the illness on family members adds to the heavy burden – many carers are not trained or qualified in the area of healthcare but do not want to give up on their loved ones.
But as the number of Dementia sufferers rises, there is now more focus on funding to gain an under- standing of this devastating illness.
Alzheimer’s Research UK welcomed David Cameron’s announcement last year that more funding would be allocated to researching the disease.
The £15million package is part of the Prime Minister’s Dementia challenge, which was launched in 2012 to build on progress of the National Dementia Strategy.
Figures from 2013 show the total spend in Britain on Dementia was £73.8m as opposed to the £503m spent on cancer research.
*Name has been changed
