A new report from the Milken Center for the Future of Aging on Minding the Gap: Investing in Dementia as an Opportunity to Extend Healthspan explores the widening gap between and lifespan and healthspan - as our life expectancy has grown, so has the number of years an average person can expect to live in poor health, now approaching a decade in many places and about 12 years in the United States. The report identifies the growing incidence of dementia as one of the chief drivers of this growing gap. Absent significant progress, dementia could impact more than 150 million people by 2050.
What to do about it? The report cites opportunities for stepped up investments from governments and firms in global prevention, detection and diagnosis, targeted treatments, and enhancing care and support for people living with dementia. That all makes sense of course, as dementia is one of the leading causes of death (#6 in the US) and it imposes substantial economic and social costs on families and communities. Yet, investments in prevention and treatment represent only a fraction of other major causes of death and disability – and the government response simply hasn’t kept pace with the accelerating impact that dementia has in an aging society.
You can read the full report here.