Major rise noted in UK volunteers for dementia research

There has been a major increase in the number of people in the UK volunteering to take part in dementia research studies.

New figures from the National Institute for Health Research have shown that during the last year, almost 22,000 people have taken part in research studies to tackle the condition – a 60 percent rise on the previous year.

This increased participation in 100 groundbreaking dementia research projects across the UK will help the government to move towards its target of finding a cure for dementia by 2025.

Projects include testing whether antibiotics slow cognitive decline, investigating the role of the immune system in dementia, identifying genetic risk factors and improving end of life care for people with dementia.

Minister for life sciences George Freeman said: "Volunteers are essential to our battle against the disease and I'm delighted that so many people – with and without dementia – are coming forward to participate in groundbreaking new trials."

Dementia affects around 850,000 people in the UK at present, but this figure is expected to rise to more than two million by 2051 as the population ages.