Like so many other conditions that mainly affect older people, there always seem to be more elderly women who are affected by these illnesses than men. This is probably a reflection of the fact that in general women live longer than men, the average woman of sixty-five having a reasonable chance of living into her early eighties whereas most men of this age have a life expectancy of approximately thirteen years — into their late seventies. The situation isn’t quite as simple as this, however, because there is a suggestion that women with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, tend to live longer than men with Alzheimer’s disease. There is no obvious reason for this, but it may be that female demented patients are fitter than the men. Some of this difference in life expectancy may be a result of the earlier habits of the men who are now old, since men used to drink and smoke far more than women. It will be interesting to see whether contemporary changes in these habits will even out the difference in the length of life expected by normal old men and women, and those with a dementing illness.
There is no unequivocal evidence that dementia strikes any particular social class or professional group more than others. Certain types of illness that cause dementia occur more frequently in certain groups; people who drink too much alcohol are more likely to have dementia, caused either by the brain damage that results from the excess drinking or because of the associated vitamin deficiencies that many alcoholics suffer from. However, as the commonest cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease which does not show a particular affinity for any specific group of people, dementia in general would appear to affect men and women in roughly equal measure and not to be associated with any other particular sub-group. The socio-economic group to which a person with dementia belongs does, however, have one important effect upon the progression of the illness, since those from lower socio-economic groups are more likely to be admitted to hospital or an alternative institution for prolonged periods of care and for the management of intercurrent illness.
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