The report, “Navigating the Path Forward for Dementia in Canada,” says this represents an increase of more than 65 per cent from the estimated 597,300 Canadians living with dementia in 2020. That year, there were 124,000 new cases of dementia diagnosed in Canada, or 15 every hour. By 2030, the report says that will rise to 187,000 new cases a year, or 21 every hour. As Canada’s population continues to age, the number of new cases each year will increase to more than 250,000 annually in the 2040s, the report predicts. By 2050, the number of people living with dementia in Canada will increase to more than 1.7 million, almost three times more than in 2020. About 1.6 per cent of the Canadian population had dementia in 2020. This is now expected to rise to 3.6 per cent by 2050, the report says. “There is some promising news about reducing the risk and delaying the onset of dementia,” the report says. “However, Canada’s aging population means we will continue to see steady increases in the number of people affected by dementia.”
DEMENTIA MORE COMMON IN WOMEN
The report describes dementia as a set of symptoms caused by certain disturbances in the healthy functioning of the brain. Symptoms may include memory loss, difficulties with attention, problem solving and language, changes in mood and behaviour, and problems with vision, balance and movement. While the study authors describe Alzheimer’s disease as the disease that causes changes in brain structure years before these symptoms appear, Alzheimer’s dementia refers to the later stage of the disease when these problems become apparent. There are other types of dementia, but Alzheimer’s dementia is considered the most common, the report said. While there are various risk factors for dementia, the report says age is the most important, with most but not all people who develop dementia being over 65. The risk of dementia doubles roughly every five years after age 65, with nearly one in four Canadians diagnosed after age 85. Women, who tend to live longer than men, make up a larger share of people living with dementia in Canada and around the world. In 2020, about 61.8 percent of people living with dementia were women, according to the report. This gap is expected to increase to 63.1% by 2050. All provinces will see an increase in cases as current trends continue, the society says, although situations will vary depending on demographics, immigration patterns and dementia risk factors.
RISK REDUCTION WOULD DELAY NEW CASES
As part of the study, the society calculated the number of hours invested by those, such as family members, friends and neighbours, caring for people with dementia. There were 350,000 care partners in 2020 who provided an average of 26 hours of care per week, the report says, equating to 470 million hours of care per year, or the equivalent of 235,000 full-time jobs. Based on current projections, the study expects the number of care partners in Canada to grow to more than one million by 2050, providing nearly 1.4 billion hours of care a year, or the equivalent of more than 690,000 full-time jobs. The Alzheimer Society also calculated how many fewer new cases of dementia there would be if the risk of dementia were generally reduced for everyone. Under these hypothetical scenarios, the society says that delaying the onset of dementia by even one year would result in nearly 500,000 fewer new cases by 2050. A 10-year delay, meanwhile, would lead to more than four million fewer new cases by the same year and reduce the number of hours needed for care by nearly a billion annually. The report cites another study, which found that 12 risk factors — lack of education, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury, hypertension, alcohol abuse, obesity, smoking, depression, social isolation, physical inactivity, air pollution and diabetes — accounted for about 40 percent of dementia cases worldwide. “Just delaying the onset of these by a year could have a really profound effect on the number of people with dementia,” Alzheimer Society of Ontario CEO Cathy Barrick told CTV News Channel on Tuesday. The Alzheimer’s Society report adds that evidence also shows that overlapping or multiple risk factors further increase the risk of dementia. “We have an incomplete understanding of the risk and protective factors for the development of dementia and the progression of dementia — more needs to be done,” the study authors write. “This is particularly important as there is no known cure for dementia.”
