Dementia 'timebomb' predicted

CAMPAIGNERS have warned of a "dementia timebomb", with the number of people with conditions such as Alzheimer's set to increase dramatically.

As people live longer, greater numbers are being diagnosed with dementia.

Henry Simmons, chief executive of Alzheimer Scotland, said there were more than 70,000 people with dementia currently living in Scotland, but that was expected to double in a generation.

"It is important to consider some of the challenges we face as a society and some of the issues that so many families will be going through right at this moment coping with a relative with dementia," he said.

"There will soon not be a family not deeply affected by dementia at some point in their future. But treatments for dementia are slow to arrive.

Mr Simmons said: "At present we have no cure and only a handful of drugs that can help a small number of people."