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   Dementia hits women hardest – study   
      
   Research finds disease now leading cause of death in British women; many are   
   also carers before succumbing themselves   
      
    An MRI scan of a human brain   
      
    An MRI scan of a human brain. Women over 60 are now twice as likely to get   
   dementia as breast cancer.    
      
   Photograph: Alamy   
   Robin McKie, science editor   
   Saturday 14 February 2015 15.30 EST   
      
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   Women are bearing the brunt of the dementia epidemic that is spreading through   
   Britain. A study by Alzheimer’s Research UK reveals that the condition has   
   not only become the leading cause of death among British women but that women   
   are far more likely    
   to end up as carers of sufferers than men – suffering physical and emotional   
   stress and job losses in the process.   
      
   “Women are carrying the responsibility of care for their loved ones, only   
   later to be living with the condition,” states the report, entitled Women   
   and Dementia: A Marginalised Majority. “Women are dying from dementia but   
   not before it has taken a    
   considerable toll on minds and bodies. In the UK, dementia hits women the   
   hardest.”   
      
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   The study, to be published next month, calls for the government to make a   
   significant increase in its funding of dementia research and an improved   
   investment in care. It also reveals that:   
      
   ■ More than 500,000 women are now affected by dementia. About 350,000 men   
   have the condition.   
      
   ■ Women over 60 are now twice as likely to get dementia as breast cancer.   
      
   ■ Women are more than two-and-a-half times more likely than men to be carers   
   of people with dementia.   
      
   ■ Most carers do not choose or plan to take on this role and often find the   
   experience highly stressful.   
      
      
   A voice for Britain’s dementia sufferers: how our campaign has built   
   awareness   
    Read more   
   In addition, the report notes that many women play a leading role in dementia   
   research in the UK but, in common with other branches of science, they are   
   discouraged from staying on in academia. Thus the country loses, every year,   
   some of the best talent    
   that it possesses for tackling the illness.   
      
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   “Dementia is a life-shattering condition and represents a ‘triple   
   whammy’ for women,” said Hilary Evans, director of external affairs at   
   Alzheimer’s Research UK. “More women are dying of dementia, more women are   
   having to bear the burden of    
   care, while a disproportionate number of women currently working in dementia   
   research are having to leave science.”   
      
   Dementia has become increasingly common, partly because more people,   
   particularly women, are living longer. Age is a major risk factor for the   
   condition, and so it is now more prevalent, especially among women.   
      
   But there are other reasons why dementia has overtaken heart disease and   
   cancer as the most common cause of death in women (though it remains in third   
   place for men). For a start, there have been major investments in heart   
   disease and cancer research in    
   recent years and these have helped bring down death rates, said Matthew   
   Norton, head of policy for Alzheimer’s Research UK.   
      
   “Just look at the figures,” he said. “The total UK spend – from   
   charities and the government – on dementia in 2013 was £73.8m. By contrast,   
   for cancer, that figure was £503m. And we can now see the effect this gulf in   
   funding has on disease    
   profiles in Britain.”   
      
   This point was also emphasised by Evans. “In recent decades we’ve seen   
   increased investment in areas like cancer have a real impact, and we need to   
   emulate that success for dementia. Only through research can we find ways to   
   treat and prevent    
   dementia, and transform the lives of the hundreds of thousands affected.”   
      
   The report also finds that between 60% and 70% of carers – who support   
   dementia patients unpaid – are female and many frequently report finding the   
   experience emotionally stressful.   
      
   In addition, the study reveals that women who care for dementia sufferers also   
   feel less supported than their male counterparts. “Wives caring for their   
   husbands with severe dementia reported receiving less support from friends and   
   family than husbands    
   caring for their wives in similar circumstances,” says the report.   
      
   In turn, these female carers were more likely to be depressed, which is itself   
   a risk factor for dementia. Of those women caring for dementia patients, 20%   
   said they had been forced to go from full- to part-time work; 18% had to take   
   leave of absence,    
   while 19% said they had to give up work altogether to look after a relative or   
   partner.   
      
   The report concludes that the grim situation regarding dementia and dementia   
   care in Britain will get worse unless the government acts. “The UK already   
   has a larger proportion of people over 65 than the EU average, and as the   
   number of older people    
   rises steeply, the need for carers will continue to increase,” it warns.   
      
      
      
      
      
   http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/14/dementia-hits-wom   
   n-hardest-study   
      
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