Is Alzheimer's disease really the leading cause of death for women — and how does it ultimately kill patients?
Dementia is the number one killer of women in the UK, and the leading cause of death for both men and women in Australia. Alzheimer's disease does not kill patients directly — instead, the brain progressively loses the ability to send signals for the most basic bodily functions, leaving patients at fatal risk from asphyxiation, the inability to swallow, or falls caused by lost balance.
Once diagnosed, there is no cure and no way to reverse the damage already done. That irreversibility is what makes the preceding two-decade window so critical: the disease begins accumulating pathology roughly 20 years before any symptoms appear, which means the real opportunity to intervene sits firmly in the prevention phase — not after a diagnosis has been received.
The episode also highlights that the stakes of inaction are measurable at a population level. When one in two women will develop dementia in their lifetime, understanding exactly what the disease does to the body — not just to memory — reframes it from an abstract cognitive decline into a concrete physical threat. Explore the full conversation on Listenly to hear the discussion in its full context.
"Having strong legs is by far the most important tool in your toolbox for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease."
— Steven Bartlett, The Diary Of A CEO with Steven BartlettSee also
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