Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:04:5
AHN Staff
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) - An Oxford University study forecasts that dementia cases in the United Kingdom will rise to one million by 2025 from the current level of 822,000.
As it is, dementia patients outnumber cancer and heart disease patients combined, but the dementia patients receive much lesser funding than the sufferers of the two other ailments. At present, U.K.'s dementia care bill is at $36.6 billion (23 billion pounds).
According to the report, for every $1.59 (one pound) spent on a dementia patient, $19.08 (12 pounds) is spent for cancer and $4.77 (3 pounds) for heart disease patients.
Professor Alistair Gray of Oxford University's Health Economics Research Center, who authored the study, said the big jump in dementia cases is because of the rapidly aging population in the United Kingdom. Unlike the two other ailments, which affect a smaller number of the population, dementia is often seen by most people as part of growing old.
Upon reaching 65, one-third of people in that age group will likely have dementia before they pass away, Gray added.
The $36.6 billion spent on dementia care is broken down into $14.3 billion (9 billion pounds) for social care, $19.08 billion (12 billion pounds) for unpaid care and $1.9 billion (1.2 billion pounds) in healthcare costs.
The Oxford University study has similar findings to Canada's Alzheimer Society's report released in January that dementia is on the rise. However, Canada's dementia care bill is bigger at $153 billion per year by 2038.
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