Dementia / Alzheimer

Thanks to the work of the European Community Concerted Action on the Epidemiology and Prevention of Dementia group (EURODEM), estimations now exist on how many people in a given country are likely to have dementia. Although dementia does not only affect older people, the likelihood of developing dementia nevertheless increases with age. EURODEM pooled data on the prevalence of moderate to severe dementia in several European countries and came up with a set of prevalence rates for men and women in 9 different age groups (30-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85-89, 90-94 and 95-99). The study included people with dementia who were living at home as well as those in institutions, nursing homes and residential care.

The Alzheimer Europe project European Collaboration on Dementia (EuroCoDe) reviewed epidemiological studies in the field of dementia and refined prevalence rates for dementia. EuroCoDe calculated the likelihood of developing dementia using the EURODEM (1991) and the EuroCoDe (2009) prevalence rates on the basis of United Nations population figures.

EuroCoDe confirmed existing prevalence rates of dementia for both men and women up to the age of 85. The review also showed that prevalence of dementia in women over the age of 85 had been under-reported. Therefore Alzheimer Europe has reassessed its estimation of the number of Europeans living with a form of dementia.

The results should also be treated with caution for the following reasons:

• The data for EuroCoDe were obtained from Germany, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom and might not therefore be accurate when used in connection with other countries not included in the study.
• The study was based solely on diagnosed cases. This poses a problem in accurately estimating the number of people with dementia, as many people with dementia never receive a diagnosis and it excludes those in the early stages of dementia who have not yet been diagnosed.
• The review of epidemiological studies highlighted that the prevalence of dementia in younger people (under the age of 60) requires further investigation.