THUNDER BAY — A new report commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada suggests bold action is needed to address a looming dementia care crisis.
The report, written by Joshua Armstrong, a researcher at the Alzheimer Society of Thunder Bay, says that by 2050 more than 1.7 million Canadians will be living with dementia, almost three times the current number.
An average of nearly 700 people will be diagnosed every day.
The report states that more than one million people will serve as care partners for a total of more than 1.4 billion hours per year.
They are often taken for granted by society, he says, but the care they provide will equal nearly 700,000 full-time jobs.
Armstrong, who is affiliated with Lakehead University’s Department of Health Sciences as an assistant professor, says, “For years, we knew these numbers were coming, but now they’re starting to come a little faster with the baby boomers who are lead into their 80s and 90s.”
In an interview, he said there are serious implications for the healthcare system.
“There is a need for hospital care, long-term care and home care. Many people with dementia live at home and rely on family, friends and neighbors for support. There will be increasing demands on these care partners. on average they offer about 26 hours of care per week.”
Armstrong’s report describes three hypothetical scenarios in which the onset of dementia was delayed by one, five or ten years.
The goal was to demonstrate the impact if Canada was able to improve dementia prevention efforts and delay its onset across the population.
The three scenarios showed the power of prevention.
Even a delay of just one year could result in almost 500,000 fewer new cases by 2050.
Armstrong said there is a growing list of so-called modifiable risk factors that can be addressed by individuals or health systems, public health agencies and levels of government.
Mitigation measures that have already been well-researched include making sure to “keep up with hypertension, heart health (whatever’s good for the heart is good for the brain, which reduces the risk of dementia ), but also make sure you’re not drinking too much alcohol, you’re being physically active, you’re not carrying too much weight, you’re getting treatment if you have depression, and you’re not smoking,” he said.
Although no effective cure or treatment for dementia has yet been discovered, the report outlines a number of actions that can lead to more positive outcomes for patients and their families.
It suggests that health care systems provide primary care physicians with better education on timely detection of dementia symptoms, diagnosis, and, most importantly, continuances.
Physicians, the report states, also require better access to diagnostic tools, education about risk-reduction approaches, and changes to fee structures so that they have adequate time and compensation to support patients and their care partners.
Among many other measures, it recommends that the federal government fully cost and fund a national dementia strategy and increase its investment in research, and that provincial governments create new community care and long-term care spaces that are compatible with the dementia
In a preview of the report, Dr. Brian Goldman describes dementia as the major health challenge facing an aging Canadian society.
He says the study aims to fill a data gap, because what is even more daunting is not knowing the scale of the challenge and its impact on the country.
The Alzheimer’s Society will publish two more reports in the coming months.
The next report will provide details about people who will develop dementia over the next three decades, including gender differences, projected population changes in the ethnicity of people living with dementia and young-onset dementia.
In the final report, a simulation model will be used to examine the economic impact of dementia in Canada.