A quarter of those who died from covid-19 during the months of March and April in England and Wales were people with dementia
IT IS WELL KNOWN that the pandemic has been especially dangerous for people already suffering from conditions such as heart disease, respiratory problems, diabetes and so on. But government statistics show that the most common pre-existing condition among those who died from covid-19 in England and Wales in March and April was not a physical ailment at all. It was dementia, which 25% of the deceased had been living with.
All this is depressing enough for those touched by dementia—including an estimated 50m globally who have the condition and their families, friends and carers. Equally depressing is the prospect that the condition has fallen further down the list of health-care priorities during the pandemic.
Perhaps the most striking report presented was from the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, a panel of experts commissioned by the British medical journal, which suggested that as many as 40% of dementia cases might in theory be delayed or prevented by tackling 12 “modifiable” risk factors. This builds on decades of research showing the links between some behaviours and physical conditions and the risk of developing dementia.
One reason why dementia is so hard to treat is that, when it is detected, it is often quite advanced. At present diagnosis normally involves cognitive testing backed up by a number of physical tests. A genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s can be gauged from a blood test, but to spot the presence of the disease, through the build-up of two characteristic proteins in the brain, requires a lumbar puncture, to examine a person’s cerebrospinal fluid, and a scan of the brain itself.
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