One in 9 over-65s will develop Alzheimer’s of dementia

One in nine people aged over 65 will develop Alzheimer’s or dementia, the deputy head of the non-profit organisation ‘Min Me Lismonis’ (Forget-me-not), Costas Kapitanis said at a news conference on Monday.

The conference was held ahead of World Alzheimer’s Day on September 21, and was attended by Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantela, and the Cyprus Neurological Society president Micahlis Protopapas.

Dr Protopapas said that their youngest patient has been 42 recently and that the youngest in all of Cyprus to suffer from the disease was 37.

Referring to the treatments available today, Dr Protopapas said that these help to delay the progression of the disease, however, he added that “the delay is not so slow as to provide for years of existence on a proper basis.”

He added: “The quicker a therapy starts for a patient the better the results are.”

Commenting on the disease, Kapitanis said that one in nine over 65 will develop Alzheimer’s or dementia, and one in three over 85 will develop one.

He added that Alzheimer’s does not discriminate.

At the press conference, Hadjipantela said: “The number of people with dementia in the world is expected to triple until 2050, from 50 to 152 million.”