According to a new study by the Alzheimer's Society of Canada, the current direction of dementia in Canada is trending upwards in a very rapid way.
In Canada, over 600,000 people are living with dementia. An illness that can impact cognitive decline, memory loss, changes in mood and behaviour and loss of functional abilities.
While Canada has made progress in the last decade to better address this brain condition, much more work needs to be done, which is what sparked the Landmark Study.
A microsimulation study that the Alzheimer's Society of Canada undertook to project the number of people who will develop dementia over the next 30 years in Canada.
They used a socio-economic statistical analysis platform from the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA) along with publicly available data from Statistics Canada to make these projections.
By 2030, the study suggests that Canada may reach close to one million individuals living with the disorder.
In terms of newly-diagnosed individuals per year—what epidemiologists call annual incidence—in 2020 there were 124,000 new cases of dementia diagnosed (10,333 per month; 348 per day; 15 every hour).
By 2030, the annual incidence will rise to 187,000 new cases a year (15,583 per month; 512 per day; 21 every hour).
Looking further into the future using the latest demographic trends from Statistics Canada combined with the Landmark Study model, challenges that come with dementia will further intensify in the 2030s and 2040s
In terms of annual incidence, by the 2040s it is expected that over 250,000 individuals will develop dementia each year (20,833 per month; 685 per day; 29 every hour).
By 2050, the number of people living with dementia would triple the 2020 level, and over 1.7 million Canadians could be living with dementia.
According to the study, that translates into an estimated 6.3 million Canadians diagnosed, living with and eventually dying of dementia over the next 30 years.
“As Canada’s baby boomer generation continues to age, the number of people in Canada living with dementia will rise significantly,” says the study’s author, Dr. Joshua Armstrong of the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
“The impact of this change, both on the number of people living with dementia and their care partners, can be lessened if governments and individual Canadians are prepared to take action to reduce the modifiable risk factors associated with the onset of dementia.”
The overwhelming majority of care partners are adult children and spouses, 88% of whom are of working age, and data suggest for every person in Canada who has dementia, a family member or friend will spend an average of 26 hours a week caring for them.
Juggling both caregiving responsibilities and career has the potential to force care partners to exit the workforce prematurely, which could have a significant socioeconomic impact on Canada’s workforce and people’s financial stability.
While many of the risk factors associated with dementia onset are also closely tied to aging, recent studies have demonstrated that the more health deficits you have, the higher the risk for developing dementia.
In contrast to the risk factors, epidemiological studies have found that there are also “protective factors” when it comes to dementia risk.
These factors include a range of healthy habits that have been shown to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia by actively influencing brain health.
Having more education, being physically active, staying connected with social activities, and eating healthy are just a few of the ways to improve brain health and protect against dementia risk.
“We hope this study will remind Canadians that dementia is not part of the normal process of aging and that there are steps people and institutions can take to reduce risks of dementia,” says Kevin Noel, Interim CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
“Governments at all levels also have a role to play by providing funds for dementia research and supporting programs that help people living with dementia and their caregivers to have the best possible quality of life.”
While a cure or an effective treatment for dementia has not yet been discovered, additional research and support continue to be a key focus in delaying the onset of dementia.
You can read more about the Landmark Study here, or find more information on the Alzheimer's Society of Canada website here.
