HAVANA, Cuba.- The president of the Cuban Alzheimer Section, Doctor Juan de Jesus Llibre Rodriguez said that dementia is the first cause for disabilities affecting senior citizens, and the main factor for their dependence and need for care, while it also puts a heavy economic and psychological burden on the persons taking care of them.

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain condition, which develops through the years and constitutes the most common cause for dementia.

Doctor Llibre Rodriguez said that dementia itself is not a disease, but a group of symptoms usually accompanying a health condition. It is linked to a progressive damage of mental functions, said the doctor who put as examples the capacity to think, recall things, reflect on and plan actions. This progressive dysfunction affects daily life activities and the person’s relationship to the family and social environments.

At present some 38 million people are suffering from dementia in the world, a figure that would climb to 115 millions by 2050.

Research studies in Cuba revealed that dementia affects one in every 10 persons at the age of 65 or older, similar to the situation reported in Europe and North America, Granma newspaper reported on Thursday.

Some 130 thousand people are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in Cuba according to studies that foresee an increase of this condition by 2.3 folds up to 2040, meaning 300 thousand people with dementia. The figure would translate into 2.7 percent of the Cuban population if an effective cure for the disease is not found before that time.

World Alzheimer Day will be marked September 21 on the planet, with efforts to spread information about the disease and with this regard Doctor Llibre Rodriguez explained that there are factors of risk that may be preventable or controllable if people adopt healthy styles of life and keep control and treatment of conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, high cholesterol levels, and deal with obesity and the smoking habit.