Exeter co-authors World Alzheimer Report 2025 on ‘the power of rehabilitation’

The University of Exeter has co-authored this year’s World Alzheimer Report, which states rehabilitation must at the heart of dementia care worldwide.

Published and co-authored by Alzheimer’s Disease International, along with Exeter and the University of Sydney, the report is titled; ‘Reimagining life with dementia – The power of rehabilitation’. It explores how rehabilitation is defined and implemented, looks at practical considerations for how best to adapt rehabilitation practices for people living with dementia in different contexts, and includes expert essays and real-world case studies from multiple countries.

Key findings from the report include:

1. People with dementia rarely have access to rehabilitation, despite evidence that they can benefit from it.
2. Studies have shown that people who had engaged in tailored individual cognitive rehabilitation had lower levels of disability than people who had received only standard care and remained in their own homes for six months longer than average before moving into residential care.
3. Seizures are up to seven times more common in people with dementia compared with peers of the same age, while falls that cause injury are two to three times more common for people living with dementia, potentially leading to reduced mobility and quality of life. Modifications to the lived environment can reduce certain risks and empower people living with dementia to be more confident in continuing to carry out activities of daily living.

Dementia is one of the world’s fastest-growing health crises, with more than 55 million people living with the condition today and numbers set to triple by 2050. Yet rehabilitation, a potentially cost-effective way to help people live with dignity and independence longer, remains largely absent from dementia care.

This new report warns that without urgent action millions will be left without the support they need while costs spiral towards an estimated 2.8 trillion USD annually by 2030. Almost half of these costs already fall on unpaid family carers.

Rehabilitation is a person-centred, collaborative approach to care that enables people with dementia to maintain or rebuild skills, from preparing meals and shopping to mobility, speech, and self-care. By focusing on what matters most to each person, it allows people to remain independent for longer, strengthens family connections, and eases pressure on health and social care systems.

Despite these benefits, rehabilitation is rarely prioritised. Only around a quarter of World Health Organization Member States have a national dementia plan, and of those, just over half mention rehabilitation.

This year’s report is a call to action for governments to embed rehabilitation in national dementia plans, train professionals to deliver it, and equip families with the tools they need. It urges clinicians to make rehabilitation a routine part of post-diagnostic support for dementia.

Linda Clare, Professor of Clinical Psychology of Ageing and Dementia at the University, is the Exeter lead on the report. Professor Clare is Director of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Dementia and Neurodegeneration (DeNPRU Exeter), and dementia theme lead for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South-West Peninsula (PenARC).

Read the report in full here: https://www.alzint.org/u/World-Alzheimer-Report-2025.pdf