Dementia rates soaring - So little time left to act on crisis

OUR capacity to sustain human life — our bodies — has improved tremendously but so too has the impact of an escalating rate of dementia in older people. One trend seems to act as a counterbalance to the other.

Though the primary impact of dementia is human, and what a harrowing impact that can be, a report published by Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) focuses on the tremendous financial cost of the disease.

The estimated cost of dementia has risen by 25% over the last five years, to €715bn and it will become a trillion-euro disease within three years. The average dementia bill in Ireland is estimated at €40,500 a year, with the economic cost of the illness estimated at €1.7bn in 2010.