The Dementia Crisis!

One of the most intriguing issue in the field of neurology is the growing dementia crisis. David Cameron, the prime minister of the UK, explains, “Dementia is simply a terrible disease. And it is a scandal that we as a country haven't kept pace with it.” Although Cameron is referring to the UK, this also holds true in the United States. Simply by looking at the age distribution of the United States, it is clear that there is going to be a large increase in the number of people above the age of 70 in the next 30 years. In study conducted by the RAND Corporation, approximately 15% of people in the United States above the age 70 have dementia (that is around 3.8 million people!). This number is only going to grow and the study estimates that 9.1 million people will have dementia-related diseases by 2040. 

I find this incredibly interesting because it is clear that there is not enough awareness for this dementia crisis. According to the National Institute of Health, Alzheimer’s researchers only received a grant of $503 million in 2012 whereas $2 billion was given for HIV research and $5.6 billion was given for cancer. We need to have increased government funding and more research on dementia-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s before it is too late. Cameron also explains, "The level of diagnosis, understanding, and awareness of dementia is shockingly low. It is as though we've been in collective denial." Thus, we must raise awareness for this upcoming crisis before it's too late!