Alzheimer’s Research UK have published a new report. The impact of dementia on women: how women are disproportionately affected across their lives and what needs to change.
Dementia became the leading cause of death for UK women in 2011. Two in three people with dementia (65 per cent) are women, and longer life expectancy alone does not explain this disparity. Women are also more likely to care for a loved one with dementia – making up around two thirds of unpaid carers. Yet across medical research, data from women is too often missing. And in the lab, female dementia researchers are less likely to move into senior roles than men. This report calls for action to tackle dementia’s disproportionate impact on women and to ensure women can make a full contribution to research, both as participants and as researchers.
