The 170 billion euro problem behind early detection

Across the EU, neurodegenerative disease costs an estimated 170 billion euro a year, and around 70 percent of dementia costs are carried by informal caregivers, a burden largely invisible to health budgets (European Brain Council; Wimo et al., Nature Aging).

Globally, 57 million people live with dementia today, a figure projected to reach 139 million by 2050. The economic cost is projected to pass 1.3 trillion euro by 2030.

Much of that cost is reactive, triggered once symptoms are already clear. Our objective is to move the point of detection earlier, at a cost that makes population-scale screening feasible.