Portugal will have 350,000 people with dementia in 2050
A new study estimates that 153 million people worldwide will have dementia by 2050, nearly triple the estimate for 2019 (57 million), due to population growth and aging.
The study, released this Thursday in the scientific publication The Lancet Public Health, a few months after another one of its kind, by the World Health Organization (WHO), estimated for Portugal 351,504 people with dementia in 2050, less than double the expected number for 2019 (200,994).
The work attributed to the number of adults aged 40 and over living with dementia in 204 countries or territories, comparing projections for 2019 and 2050, and considering four risk factors: smoking, obesity, hyperglycemia (excess of blood sugar) and education low.
In view of the data, the authors call for redoubled efforts to reduce the risk of dementia, namely in terms of education, diet, activity, health care and social support, as well as investment in physical research on safe treatment.
The increase in dementia cases is expected in all countries or territories covered by the study, but the estimated growth will be greatest in countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the study’s authors, an improvement in access to education could lead to six million fewer cases of dementia worldwide by 2050, compared to the estimated number.
However, they point out that smoking, hyperglycemia and obesity could lead to an additional seven million cases of dementia, compared to projections made for 2050.
WHO rules
A WHO report released in September estimated that 55 million people worldwide over the age of 65 had dementia, with a projected 139 million by 2050.
According to the WHO, 1.6 million people died worldwide in 2019 due to dementia, which then became the seventh leading cause of death.
Dementia, which manifests itself in various types of disease, Alzheimer’s being the most common, is specialized in the loss of memory, intellectual capacity, reasoning and social skills, and by changes in normal emotional reactions.