Two of the more common maladies among the senior population are stroke and dementia, and now a team of United Kingdom researchers are saying that they do not have nearly enough money to effectively research these issues. There is a lot of money here, but to keep up with the issues, even more is needed, especially as stroke and dementia impact the elderly much more severely than many other diseases do.
In the UK, the four leading causes of death and disability are cancer, coronary heart disease, dementia, and stroke. Alzheimer’s disease falls into the dementia category. Of these four, all have seen an increase in funding, but the need for funding in stroke and dementia research is still far too small to be as effective as it could be. In 2012, the UK government devoted 856 million pounds to these four diseases, two thirds of which went to cancer research. 90 million pounds were devoted to dementia, and 56 million pounds to stroke research. The trend here seems to be following the media interest in these diseases, since cancer receives much more press than the others, but the end result is that the diseases that affect the elderly more specifically are underfunded, and leave a population more valuable.
In the United States,the situation is quite similar. $480 million is spent on Alzheimer’s research in the United States, while over $6 billion is spent on cancer research, according to a 2011 National Institute of Health poll. If anything, the disparity is even bigger. And the people that suffer the most are our elderly relatives. Until research catches up to where it needs to be to help our loved ones more effectively, we need to take action by making sure that they are kept as safe and healthy as possible. This can take place first with a solid senior care structure. In-home care is effective in many cases, which allows them to stay home and thrive where they’ve been living for years. It eliminates the stress of relocation, and avoids feelings of being forced to move into a “home” against their will. For some people, this isn’t best, so make sure you evaluate your loved one on their needs first before you make a decision.
Because the elderly population all around the world is increasing in size, dementia and stroke are going to keep increasing in numbers. That makes the need for research in these areas that much more important. The Baby Boomer phenomenon didn’t just happen in the United States after World War II, but all over the world. And the more that the average age of the population goes up, the more serious the problem becomes. Great advances in research have already been made, but there is still a lot of room for progress. It would be an easy area to fix with more time and money, but as of right now, this isn’t a possibility outside of private donations. Government funding can provide much more than the average person, and it’s been this money in the past that has been so helpful to advancements in treatment and prevention.
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