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The number of people living with dementia in England is at an all-time high, with close to half a million diagnosed cases as of June 2024.
Dementia – Britain’s biggest killer – is an umbrella term for many conditions and affects more than 55 million people worldwide. In England, about 7,000 people are diagnosed every month.
The global health cost is expected to almost triple by 2050, and is expected to reach $2.8tn by 2030.
Here we look at the nationwide fight against a pernicious disease.
A postcode lottery for diagnosis
Where you live can affect how likely you are to be diagnosed with the condition. According to estimates, 65% of over-65s with dementia in England had been diagnosed as of June 2024 – while some areas of the country had rates as low as 46%.
The government has a target to diagnose 66.7% of patients. However, the latest figures show 180 council areas in England are below that figure. The target was last met nationwide in 2019.
Last year, a report from the all-party parliamentary group on dementia found that structural issues could be stopping patients seeking or obtaining a diagnosis. These included access to a GP, cultural barriers, waiting times for memory assessment, lack of post-diagnostic support and insufficient scanners.
London – the youngest region in England – has by far the fewest number of cases compared with its population, with only 0.6% of residents confirmed to be living with dementia. The highest number of cases was found in the regions with the oldest populations – the north-east, south-east and south-west.
In 2021, Alzheimer’s Society UK predicted that there were almost 900,000 people living with dementia, with about half of those cases thought to be misdiagnosed or not picked up at all. A total 66,000 of those thought to have dementia lived in Scotland, with 44,000 living in Wales and 22,000 in Northern Ireland.
It is not a disease that just affects older people
Although almost everyone diagnosed is over the age of 65, one in every 14 known dementia sufferers in England in mid-2024 had young-onset dementia, meaning they were diagnosed before their 65th birthday.
Men are more likely to be diagnosed with young-onset dementia than women. NHS figures show there were 13% more men than women under the age of 65 diagnosed with dementia, and almost double the number of men under 50 than women under 50 with a diagnosis in England.
Looking at older age groups, women with dementia outnumber men and from the age of 80 there are twice as many women with the disease as there are men – probably because women have a longer life expectancy. NHS figures also suggest that white people have a lower rate of diagnosis than other ethnic groups.
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