Recent epidemiological reviews suggested that the incidence of Alzheimer disease (and other dementias) will significantly increase over the next few decades - and that this epidemic will be concentrated in Asia (with a significant portion of the burden). Indicatively, in an example, it is reported that the number of individuals with dementia in the Asia Pacific region will rise by 23 million as of 2015 to close to 71 million by 2050.
The data brings to the fore several major points:
- South and Southeast Asia have one of the rapidly expanding number of the elderly in the world.
- The proportion of dementia cases in low and middle-income countries will continue to grow (it is estimated that it will increase to 71% of the total world cases by 2050).
- Middle East AsiaSome of the area also referred to as the Middle East and South Asia zone is identified by the research as a more risky zone because of demographic transition, urbanisation, lifestyle changes and increasing vascular/metabolic risk factors.
- Certain studies indicate that a certain socio-economic group (the upper middle class in developing/transitioning countries) can be at high risk of AD because of lifestyle factors, longer lifespan, urbanization, increased exposure to risk factors of non-communicable diseases (diabetes, hypertension, obesity) and possibly because of better detection/diagnosis of the condition.
- Ageing population, growing non-communicable risk burden, and growing longevity imply that Asia (and more so, areas undergoing a rapid demographic, economic transition) will experience a sharp rise in AD cases and subsequent social, health-care and economic burden.
The significance of this to us in India (and in the more general Asian region):
- With increasing life expectancy and decreasing fertility/young cohorts, the percentage of the older population is increasing, implying that there is an increasing pool of individuals in the risk group of AD.
- The city, better-off populations are more likely to follow patterns of lifestyle (sedentary lifestyles, increased risks of their metabolic systems) that are known to be risk factors and contribute to Alzheimer and other forms of dementia.
- The health-care systems in most of these areas might not be well-prepared to meet the size of the dementia and AD that will be needed by the decades to come in terms of diagnosis, long-term care, the care giving process, infrastructure and financing.
- The added significance is given to the public health, as well as primary prevention (managing hypertension, diabetes, obesity, promoting active lifestyles, cognitive health), due to the projected increase in burden.
For those are intersted in reading more, attaching the relevant report bellow.
MBH/AB