Dive Brief:
- A new report by the UK's Office of Health Economics (OHE) estimated 32% of people born in the UK this year (37% of women, 27% of men) will likely develop dementia if there are no additional efforts to combat the disease.
- Dr. Matthew Norton, head of policy at Alzheimer's Research UK, said if Alzheimer's could be delayed by 5 years, the number of those afflicted could be reduced by a third.
- Most experts agree the biggest barrier to prevention and treatment strategies is due to a lack of funding. In the U.S., NIH provided $5.3 billion in funding for cancer research last year, but only $562 million for Alzheimer's.
Dive Insight:
"Dementia is the biggest health and social care challenge of our generation, but research into the condition has been hugely underfunded. This lack of funding has hampered progress and also restricted the number of scientists and clinicians working in the dementia field," said James Pickett, head of research for the UK Alzheimer Society, in an interview with Medical News Today last year.