Study examining the cost of major diseases in England is published
A study published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity has suggested the annual cost in England of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke combined will rise by 61% from £51.9bn recorded in 2018 to £85.6bn in 2050. All four conditions combined account for 59% of all deaths and result in 5.1m years of life lost.
The biggest rise by 2050 will be in social care costs of looking after people, with an increase of 110% to £13.5bn a year for dementia alone.
Dr Ramon Luengo-Fernandez, from the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford, led this research and says:
“We can never prevent all cases [of these diseases] – we must all have to die of something eventually. What, in my opinion, we should concentrate on is preventing disease at younger ages, so that when disease occurs, say dementia or stroke, it occurs at the end of someone’s lifespan, for example in their 90s, rather than at age 60 or 70.”
You can read the study here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhl/article/PIIS2666-7568(24)00108-9/fulltext