Dementia: One New Case Every Seven Seconds

Dementia Facts

Dementia is the loss of mental functions — such as thinking, memory, and reasoning — that is severe enough to interfere with a person’s daily life.

Dementia is not temporary confusion or normal forgetfulness.

The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia patients are usually elderly and the disease tends to worsen over time, but it’s not a normal part of the aging process.

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Dementia on a Global Scale

The experts who worked on the new study were assembled by Alzheimer’s Disease International, an umbrella group for Alzheimer’s disease associations in various countries.

The experts’ task: Comb through the world’s statistics on dementia (not just Alzheimer’s disease) and come up with global predictions about where dementia is headed.

Some regions had better dementia data than others. The researchers also used U.N. estimates of population growth.

Prevent Alzheimer's With Healthy Living

Developing Countries Hardest Hit

Most people with dementia live in what the researchers call “developing countries.” Those countries will also have the sharpest rise in dementia cases in the future, the experts predict.

They predict a 100 percent increase in developed countries’ dementia cases between 2001 and 2040. In comparison, they predict a 300 percent increase in dementia cases in developing countries.

Here is the researchers’ list of the highest number of dementia cases in 2001:

—China: 5 million

—European Union: 5 million

—U.S.: 2.9 million

—India: 1.5 million

—Japan: 1.1 million

—Russia: 1.1 million

—Indonesia: 1 million

Of course, predictions aren’t always right. The experts note that dementia could grow faster than they expect.

On the bright side, they add that dementia could also drop if new treatments or methods of prevention are found.

Resources for Alzheimer’s Patients and Families

By Miranda Hitti, reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

SOURCES: Ferri, C. The Lancet, Dec. 17-31, 2005; vol 366: pp 2112-2117. WebMD Medical Reference in collaboration with The Cleveland Clinic: “Alzheimer’s Disease: Other Forms of Dementia.” WebMD Medical Reference: “Dementia.” News release, The Lancet.