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A large group of researchers all over the world joined forces to estimate the global prevalence of dementia now, and in the future. By analysing worldwide data, they tried to predict how many dementia cases would be preventable by diminishing exposure to known risk factors.

In this , the authors revealed a shocking expected rise of global dementia cases from around 57.7 million cases in 2019 to almost triple that number, 152.8 million cases, in 2050. The rising prevalence of dementia has been a concern for many years already. Even though there is evidence that the amount of new cases per year will slightly decrease over the coming years, the total number of people living with the disease will continue to rise. This discrepancy is mainly attributed to decreased fertility and higher life expectancy, changing the age distribution in the population.

Dementia is a group of diseases characterized by progressive mental decline, mainly seen as a loss in capability of storing new information, (short-term) memory loss, personality changes, and difficulties in communication.

The disease has a lot of impact on the quality of life of the patient, and the people around them, such as family and caregivers. But the authors also aim to warn governments about the increased cost and healthcare burden of the increase in dementia patients. Not only do these patients require intensive personal care, especially in later stages of the disease, but they are also more likely to end up in a hospital because of injuries or other age-associated diseases.

In the case of dementia, prevention is definitely better than treatment: no cure or effective disease progression delaying treatment is currently available for dementia patients.

Even though the underlying causes of dementia are yet to be fully understood, there is evidence on what kind of factors can influence the risk of developing dementia in your life. In the article, researchers mention smoking, obesity, diabetes, low education, low physical activity, high blood pressure, alcohol use, and air pollution. All these factors can contribute to higher risk of dementia.

Some of these factors you can influence on your own, but others are way beyond the power of one person. That is why the authors call upon health organisations and governments to take action. In the case of dementia, prevention is definitely better than treatment: no cure or effective disease progression delaying treatment is currently available for dementia patients. Governments are urged to make investments now for increasing the capacity of elderly care to assure future patients can get the treatment they need, to fund research on finding a treatment, and most importantly, pay attention to prevention of the disease where possible. Governments should be encouraging their citizens to lead a healthy lifestyle, ensuring a safe and clean living environment, and providing adequate education for everyone.