To think that Dementia/Alzheimers is a woman's disease.

[Elendon]

Two thirds of those who die from the disease are women. This is an awful statistic. I'm shocked.

www.alzheimers.org.uk/statistics

It costs billions of pounds per year to the NHS and the Carer system. Note: my aunt has alzheimers. Why are women so adversely affected? Surely this has to be corrected as a matter of urgency!

[dovesong]

This is just because women live longer. There are plenty of men who get it. It's truly one of the most ghastly and devastating illnesses.

[Enidblyton1]

I've done a lot of research into dementia.
The main reason for the higher proportion of women with dementia is purely because men tend to die from other things first - like heart disease.

There is evidence that women take longer to get a dementia diagnosis than men because they are better able to hide early symptoms of the disease.

Part of the reason for the overall increase in people with dementia is that medical professionals are getting better at spotting and recording it on death certificates.

Dementia is a horrible set of diseases (there are a number of different types of dementia with varying symptoms) and will only continue to grow in prevalence as people live longer
Dementia research is an excellent cause to donate money to - as there is currently no cure.

[Enidblyton1]

And there is NO evidence currently that suggests women are more prone to dementia just for being women.

[passingthrough1]

Elendon I have and that's why I said it.
My relative who had a form of dementia was long gone mentally before her body was. So she suffered with it for a few years. The rest of us suffered for longer. Some people still see that body as the person they used to know and some people accept easily that their loved one has died before their body does actually give up. Most people I guess fall between these two camps and fight between the two e.g. No that woman over there really isn't my Mother / Father / sibling as they don't have their personality or memory and have no semblance to the person I knew, but yet because the body is still going I can't grieve.
Yes, I think crueller on the loved ones and relatives.

[Elendon]

These stats seem to suggest that it's only 1% difference in heart disease between male and females

heartuk.org.uk/press/press-kit/key-facts-figures

Perhaps females recover more from heart disease and therefore suffer more from vascular dementia.

It's a shocking fact though that two thirds of those suffering dementia will be women. Are women not shocked by this? We live on average 5 years longer than men. It can't be down to old age that women suffer more, because men in old age are suffering this also.

However, if this was reversed in gender, two thirds of men suffer dementia it would be a national outcry.

[whirliegig]

Apparently women who have had sons are less likely to have dementia than women who have only had daughters. I'm curious to know why!

There was a study out a few years ago ( will try to find a link) that said women who had daughters lived longer than women who had sons - they didn't have a definite explanation for this ( although personally I would think it's to do with testosterone levels)

So if women with sons die younger, then they are at less risk of developing dementia than the longer lived mothers of daughters...

[Elendon]

Why would we as women want our loved ones to suffer more when it comes to dying? It makes no sense. If someone is brain dead i.e. the brain has gone mentally, why would they be allowed to live?

[hatgirl]

Sorry OP, I think you are trying to make something of this that isn't really there.

There are all kinds of reasons why more women than men have dementia listed as the cause of death. I am more concerned at the approach we have as a society to keep elderly people alive 'at all costs' including dignity rather than having an open and honest conversation around planning comfortable and dignified elderly care and deaths. That and chronic underfunding of good quality dementia care is where the national outcry should be.

[Elendon]

But women are more likely to give birth to males rather than females. It's just that males are less likely to live longer than females.

My aunt had two boys and one girl.

[brasty]

Women are more likely to die from a heart attack than men.

[Elendon]

Hatgirl we already spend billions of pounds annually on health care when it comes to dementia. How much more billions do we have to spend to make it 'good quality'?

I've already said that keeping someone alive whose mental capabilities will never ensure cure or a respectable way of life is abhorrent.

[Elendon]

Yes, Brasty because women have different symptoms to men pre heart attack.

[Elendon]

Heart disease is different to heart attack btw. Women are more likely to take on board directions from the doctor to avert a heart attack.

[Elendon]

There was the Liverpool Care Pathway

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/liverpool-care-pathway-controversial-end-of-life-regime-for-dying-patients-to-be-replaced-8707164.html

But of course this proved controversial. I love my aunt, I could tell you wonderful stories about her and she was always supportive of me. I hope she dies soon though. It was most distressing to see her, but she was in the most distress. She did say to me 'please don't go', as I kissed her goodbye. I had already outstayed my visitor time by two hours. I just ensured she was comfortable and we exchanged jokes and I shared you tube videos with her. I'm not sure she knew it was me. But I had to go. I had a plane to catch.

[AliceThrewTheFookingGlass]

f this was reversed in gender, two thirds of men suffer dementia it would be a national outcry.

I'm not sure why you're painting this as some sort of sexist issue OP there is already so much funding and research into finding a cure. It's not a case of 'well it mostly effects women so who gives a shit'

[PurpleDaisies]

The Liverpool care pathway was there for patients who were very close to death. It certainly wasn't about hastening death, just enduring people were as comfortable as possible when it came.

[annandale]

Interesting research, though the original link doesn't say that two thirds of those who die with the disease are female, it says that two thirds of those who live with it are female. But more subtle information further on through the links.

Enidblyton, I was interested to read about the research that says women are more likely than men to develop or be identified with dementia post general anaesthetic/surgically. Racking my brains to think of a physiological reason for that.

There was also a hopeful bit of research published maybe a year ago indicating that in fact, that doubling of incidence every five years doesn't keep going off the chart, once people get past 90 the rate of increase seems to slow down quite a lot. Maybe that will change as more and more live to 90 though.

I also think that the human body isn't meant to go on forever, but it's also true that an awful lot of people of 90 plus are living lives that, when it comes to it, they don't seem to want to leave. I quite often have conversations with people this age about whether they want X or Y treatment, or whether they would rather not, and you'd be amazed how many want whatever treatment is available, however debilitating. Funny how a few years ago the nHS was supposed to be effectively abandoning anyone over 85 and starving them to death in a dark corner with nothing but a few tick box sheets for company, and now we're supposed to be maliciously propping up anyone over 85 and treating them brutally with no option to withdraw. I think if society really does want to rack down treatment for those over a certain age, it's going to have to be a very long and very open conversation to get it anywhere near right. Preferably after the Daily Mail has gone bankrupt

[brasty]

The Liverpool Pathway was misapplied. That is why it was withdrawn.
And dementia care is very poor. Most people with dementia are not cared by people who have any training in dementia. I watched a programme where some specialists turned around the dementia care people were receiving in a home, with good training. Apart from the training cost, the care did not cost any more.

[milliemolliemou]

I agree with everyone upthread in just one way: we don't know how to deal with death. The Liverpool Pathway was badly administered in many cases and left people dying of thirst. Dying with opiates can leave the dying one hallucinating and not in a good way. Trying to get to Switzerland means going earlier than you need to because you have to be able to travel, and it takes six months at least for psych/med checks. Even if you've signed a living will, dictating when and how you want to die (eg no resus) it's still complicated. Especially when you are no longer compos mentis through Alzheimers or dementia, whatever your sex. The trouble with that is when do you decide to go - at first indications when you can - or leaving it up to family or medics when you can no longer decide?

[brasty]

Yes, Brasty because women have different symptoms to men pre heart attack.

Yes and the typical symptoms we are taught of a heart attack, are symptoms of a typical man's heart attack.

[ExConstance]

I run a care service, I'd agree from our experience age is the biggest factor. We care for plenty of men with dementia. As a generalisation, perhaps because of the way family structures were going back a generation or two men seem to be more amenable to accepting help at home. Women often refuse care and once they cannot make decisions for themselves are more likely to end up in a care home.

[FurryDogMother]

I'm looking after my 89 year old Dad, who has Alzheimer's and vascular dementia. He also has prostate cancer, but that doesn't really affect his day to day life. His brother died 3 years ago from the same disease (as did his brother's wife, my aunt, same year). Dad got his diagnosis a couple of years ago, but it's really not all gloom and doom - he still has a fairly good quality of life, he just can't remember things. I guess we're lucky that he's not more seriously affected by it (as yet). You learn to live with the slow decline, and enjoy the good moments - of which there are many. I appreciate that my experience is not everyone's experience - but equally,. dementia is not always a terrible thing - with Dad it seems to be quite gentle, for which I'm grateful.

[hatgirl]

The dementia spectrum is also so huge, like cancer some people are just unlucky, some has a genetic aspect and some there is potentially a social/ preventable cause.

Until you have looked at all the different variations, considered factors like life expectancy and age, taken into account differences in recording practices over time and between different areas I think it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions about who it happens to and why.

But it is a cruel horrible disease and I am glad that there is a huge amount of research into it currently.

[Tobebythesea]

Utterly ridiculous. Both men and women get dementia from all walks of life and ages. Women live longer therefore more women die of it.

[MackerelOfFact]

I attended a very interesting lecture a couple of years ago, basically explaining that if you eliminate the most common cause of death, more people will simply die of the second most common cause of death.

Don't quote me on this, but there was also something about the likelihood of illness increasing as you get older, and there is a hypothetical age (I forget what it was - something like 140) by which, statistically speaking, if you were alive you would have a 100% chance of having cancer. It was more complicated than that, but that was a gist of it.

Death has become hugely medicalised; people no longer just die simply of old age, there's always an underlying reason, a disease, an organ that's failed, an infection. That's the thing though, isn't it. We're never going to eliminate death, we just strive to try and eliminate the most horrible illnesses, and that's really subjective.