China Has More Than Nine Million People With Dementia

Scientific American (5/13, Upsori) reports that China is facing a public health crisis as the number of elderly people with dementia increases. The country already “has more than nine million people with some form of dementia and more cases of Alzheimer’s disease than any other country, according to a 2013 paper in The Lancet,” the authors of which “dubbed dementia ‘the single largest challenge to health and social care systems’ in China.”

The article goes on to interview psychiatrist Michael Phillips, MD, MA, MPH, who “has dual appointments at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and the Collaborative Center for Global Mental Health at Emory University.” At the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, Dr. Phillips described the challenges China faces as it deals with a growing population of aging people.

Related Links:

— “Health Care Crisis Looms as China Faces Elderly Dementia Upsurge,” Sandra Upson, Scientific American, May 12, 2014.

Posted in In The News.