Urgent warning over ‘frightening’ surge in dementia cases – with 1 in 2 affected

ONE in two Brits will one day get dementia or care for a loved one who has it, a top charity has warned.

Alzheimer’s Research UK says 1.2million of us will have the memory-robbing condition by 2040 – a third more than today.

It issued a call for action to help people stay healthy and avoid the disease, improve early diagnosis and boost research into treatments.

Hilary Evans, chief executive of the charity, said: “This is the frightening reality we face.

“We will not be able to escape the ever-growing threat of dementia unless we take action now.

“Breakthroughs like the Alzheimer’s drugs lecanemab and donanemab have put us on the path for a cure, but this is only just the start. 

“We need to deliver life-changing treatments for people with every form of dementia, revolutionise how it’s diagnosed, and find ways to prevent it altogether.”

Landmark trials of the drugs lecanemab and donanemab recently proved for the first time that Alzheimer’s – the top dementia cause – can be slowed down.

Around 900,000 people in the UK are already living with dementia and it is our top killer, causing 66,000 deaths last year.

Cases are rising as people live to older ages, with Britain’s average life expectancy now five to nine years longer than in the 1980s.

Old age is the biggest risk factor but high blood pressure, being unfit or overweight, and drinking and smoking increase the danger.

Analysis by Alzheimer’s Research UK found 55 per cent of people in the UK are expected to develop dementia, care for someone with it, or both.

About one in 10 people are already unpaid carers, meaning they look after a loved one themselves.

The social care sector is in crisis with more than 100,000 unfilled job posts.

Actor Brian Cox, star of US TV hit Succession, said: “I saw first-hand the destruction dementia causes when it robbed me of my brother and my brother-in-law. 

“I was forced to watch as their lives ended in one of the worst possible ways, knowing nothing could be done to save them. 

“No family should ever have to go through this, but as the new figures have revealed, many more will unless things drastically change.”