Monday August 29, 2022 – Author:
bab
Dementia younger than thought: There are significantly more patients under the age of 65 than previously thought. This is reported by the German Alzheimer Society. Special support offers are still missing.
In 2021, the WHO published new studies on the occurrence of dementia diseases published in different age groups. Now, for the first time, there are more precise estimates of the number of people under the age of 65 with the disease. According to this, there are currently more than 100,000 people under the age of 65 living in Germany who are suffering from dementia.
“The main reason why this number is significantly higher than in earlier publications is that diagnostics have improved significantly in recent years,” says Prof. René Thyrian, board member of the German Alzheimer Society. (DAlzG), in a statement.
Dementia younger than expected: More patients under 65 years of age
“In the past, other diseases such as depression were diagnosed very frequently. However, an actual increase in the frequency of the disease at this age cannot be assumed,” Thyrian continues. The dementia is therefore younger than expected.
But for patients under the age of 65, there is currently a lack of special support services. Monika Kaus, 1st Chairwoman of the DAlzG, emphasizes: “When people under 65 develop dementia, they are usually still in work and often still have children in school or training. Concepts of how work can be continued even with the onset of dementia , just as there are no suitable care offers or care facilities for this age group. We have known this problem for a long time from the consultation, now it is time for the political side to react to it.”
The number of dementia cases will continue to increase
According to the latest calculations, there are currently around 1.8 million people living with dementia in Germany. Most of them are from the Alzheimer-Disease affected. In the course of 2021, around 440,000 people were newly diagnosed with dementia.
As a result of demographic changes, there are far more new cases than deaths among those who are already ill. For this reason, the number of people suffering from dementia is increasing. Depending on how the age structure of the population develops, the number of people over 65 with dementia will increase to 2.4 to 2.8 million by 2050.