Increased vigilance and acceleration of the development of new treatments for dementia has been called for by the British Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre, after finding that 1 in 5 people who died from COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 were living with the condition.
According to new figures released by the UK's Office for National Statistics, a high proportion of people who died due to coronavirus in England and Wales in 2021 were suffering from dementia. Combining these figures with those for 2020, it found that of the 137,321 patients who died from the pandemic virus, 30,043 - or 21.8% - were living with the disease.
The UK's leading dementia research charity argues that these figures highlight the urgent need to move forward with dementia research. Head of policy at the UK Alzheimer's Research Centre, David Thomas said: "We have known for some time that people with dementia have been disproportionately hard hit by the advent of the pandemic. The new data, however, serves as an important reminder of the growing challenge these people face and the urgent need to combat the problems that arise for sufferers. Patients with dementia are more likely to be at greater risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms. For this reason, we need to find new and better ways of treating and reducing the risk of dementia if we want to protect people in the future. It is therefore important that dementia research is prioritised."
The research centre has even asked the UK government to form a dementia drug study group as part of the government's wider strategy for the disease, with the aim of treating it more effectively in the future.
"We call on the government to set up a dementia research group, using the same approach as COVID-19, with the aim of finding life-changing treatments for patients," concludes David Thomas.
Source: ygeiamou.gr
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