blog 11

Dementia 'second leading cause of deaths in women'

6 November 2012 Last updated at 11:25 ET

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20222765

Dementia is the second highest cause of death of women in the world.  This specific condition was listed as the main cause, in one in 10 of the total of 250,000 deaths in 2011.  For men it was the 5 leading cause of death, But for both men and women the leading cause of death is heart disease.  It accounts for about 16 and 11% of total deaths.  If all the cancers in the world were added together they would account for 30% of all deaths.  Dementia is becoming more and more prevalent, because the cases are increasing, we would be more and more likely to see it listed on someone’s death certificate.  With all of this data collected, we have learned that we need to invest more time and research into dementia research.  For every one dementia scientist there are six working on cancer.  So dementia research is far behind.  If we are to get ahead of this disease, we need to look at Dementia as being a national priority. 

This article really hit home for me, I have been working with elderly suffering from dementia for about 12 years now.  I have seen the various stages of dementia and the effects it has on a person’s well being and development.  During the last stage of dementia, the person is completely incompetent.  They need everything to be done for them, feeding, walking, and washing themselves.  They are completely reliant on someone else for their care. I have had family members that have suffered from both cancer and dementia.  I believe that they are both equally important. And are equally responsible for causing tons of deaths, if we spend just half as much energy in finding a cure for dementia as we do for cancer, I believe we would save a lot more lives.