Dementia hits women hardest – The Guardian

My thanks to Judy Orvos for the link to Saturday's article on women & dementia.  A perfect companion piece for Ai-Jen Poo's recently published, The Age of Dignity which I just started reading last night.  Both show women disproportionately bearing the brunt of dementia care, with consequences touching their social & emotional lives, careers, health.

A telling quote from Hilary Evans, director of external affairs at Alzheimer's Research UK - “Dementia is a life-shattering condition and represents a ‘triple whammy’ for women. More women are dying of dementia, more women are having to bear the burden of care, while a disproportionate number of women currently working in dementia research are having to leave science.”

Another interesting nugget from the report - women who care for husbands with dementia report receiving less family & friend support than husbands caring for wives.  It seems expected that women will allow careers to be interrupted or side-tracked when a parent, spouse or other loved one needs support.  Men?  What do you think?

Bitter irony - women caring for loved ones with dementia are likely to suffer physically & emotionally, particularly from depression, itself a heightened risk factor for developing dementia.  The very care they give increase their chances of needing it themselves.