The number of dementia sufferers who were reported missing in Japan last year rose by 71 from the preceding year to 17,636, police data showed Thursday.
The figure marked the ninth consecutive year of increase and jumped 1.8-fold from 2012, when statistics began, according to the data by the National Police Agency.
The Japanese Bankers Association, or Zenginkyo, said Thursday that it will ask member commercial banks to flexibly respond to third-party requests for withdrawals of dementia sufferers’ deposits.
Of those reported missing, 245 were not found by the end of the year while 16,775, including people reported missing in 2018 or earlier, were located, according to the police data.
A Japanese government institution has developed a smartphone app designed to prevent elderly people from developing dementia amid restraints on going out and other activities away from home due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
“The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Tuesday that 26 nursing homes and group homes for elderly people with dementia in seven prefectures remain damaged after flooding. Some elderly residents have been forced to move multiple times during evacuation, which has had an adverse impact on their health.”
“In 2015, about 5.2 million people in Japan had dementia, and this number is estimated to rise to about 7 million in 2025. For those 65 and older, 20 percent have dementia. The dementia prevalence rate increases with advancing age, so the morbidity rate is expected to continue to rise thereafter.”
“As of 2012, dementia patients accounted for about 4 percent of people between the ages of 70 to 74 and the rate of such patients aged 75 to 79 was around 14 percent, according to a government estimate.”
“a social worker in Kyoto, says she has seen many cases of dementia patients withdrawing large sums without a clear grasp of what they are doing or why. In one example, she said, a woman in her 90s withdrew ¥20 million ($266,000) of her savings at a grandson’s urging. “She was saying she withdrew nine or ten. It took me a while to realize she was talking about a number of banknote rolls,” A roll is typically one hundred ¥10,000 notes. “It was clearly a case of abuse.”
“The nationwide study, carried out early last year at 3,446 hospitals and receiving valid responses from 937, found that among 23,539 patients with or suspected of having dementia, 10,480 or 45 percent were physically restrained during their stay.”
“A new report shows financial assets of people with senile dementia in Japan have topped 143 trillion yen, or over 1.27 trillion dollars, as of March this year.”
Barrier Free Japan