Nancy Young wrote:
>Lucian Wischik wrote:
>> Half of all fifty year-olds have alzheimers. For 80-year-olds the
>> figure rises to something like 95%.
>I have to wonder where you got these statistics?

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, my father is a researcher in the
field, so it's a common topic of discussion at the dinner table. The
usually quoted statistics is 10% of 65-y-o, rising to 50% of 85-y-o.
e.g. here
http://seniorcare-solution.com/resource.html
We reckon these are drastically under-reporting the prevelance. Why?
-- because Brauch Stage 1 is hard to diagnose. Patients can cover up
their lapses easily. It's hard to distinguish vascular dementia from
alzheimer's dementia. And we're conditioned to accept forgetfulness as
such a natural part of ageing that we don't even bother asking what
condition has caused it.

--
Lucian