I WAS very interested in the contents of the article 'Dementia timebomb' (Oxford Mail, May 31), having had experience with one of my own family – my wife – suffering from this terrible disease.

Although the article makes the very valid point that the aging population will increase the number of sufferers over the coming years, in fact dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease are not diseases affecting only ‘old’ people.

There are many cases which prove sufferers are getting younger.

My wife is being cared for, at present, in a care home on the outskirts of Oxford, because she requires specialist nursing.

She is now 62 and was originally diagnosed more than four years ago, at the age of 57, and has not lived at home for that period. The nursing home last week admitted a new lady patient, aged 58, who was first diagnosed at the age of 55.

I hope this information is of interest, and I am sure there are other readers who have also come across similar situations.

PETER LADBROOK, Wilkins Road, Oxford