A scientific study reveals a rapid increase in medical care and hospitalizations in recent years, making these neurodegenerative diseases the fourth cause of death in France. They mainly affect the elderly. There are between 750,000 and one million patients in France. According to projections, this figure could reach between 1.29 and 1.4 million people in 2030.
Significant increases
According to researchers from the Institute for Health Surveillance (InVs), hospitalizations linked to Alzheimer’s disease and degenerative diseases increased sharply between 2007 and 2010 (+23%). There are 13.9% more deaths and the number of Alzheimer’s patients treated for long-term illnesses (ALD) has increased by 14.6%. The number of patients admitted to ALD for Alzheimer’s rose from 275,836 in 2007 to 316,115 in 2010.
These figures were established thanks to the resources of the three main health insurance schemes, hospitals and CépiDC (which collects the medical part of all death certificates). These figures therefore do not take into account all patients, only the most seriously affected.
Women more affected
According to the BEH (Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin), patients with neurodegenerative diseases are mostly women. In 2010, women represented nearly three-quarters of patients admitted to ALD and 66% of patients hospitalized for these diseases.
” 36,383 women died against 17,908 men in 2010, at an average age of 87.7 years, against 84.5 years for men “, according to the study published in the latest issue of BEH.
While the researchers acknowledge “that their data are incomplete and lead to ‘a significant underestimation of the burden of these diseases’, they claim that “this study shows that the burden of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is considerable for society“. In several countries including France, it is estimated that only 50% of patients are identified by the health system.
