A regional publisher has undertaken a study into the impact of dementia on its patch as part of a new campaign.

DC Thomson has revealed deaths linked to dementia have more than tripled across Scotland since 2000, as well as a “huge rise” in self-funded nursing care and statistics showing that women in Scotland are almost twice as likely to die from dementia than men.

Data journalists at the publisher have found too that 2023 saw a record high for dementia patients delayed in leaving hospital due to the availability of care home beds.

The research was compiled using decades worth of data, as well as statistics from a number of Freedom of Information requests.

The project includes deep dives into the data region by region, video case studies, and a comic has also been created for children to better understand the condition.

The findings have been covered by the Dundee Courier and Aberdeen Press & Journal, and will also appear in this week’s Sunday Post.

DC Thomson’s head of data journalism Lesley-Anne Kelly, who led on the research, said: “It’s a true collaboration between reporters, data journalists, graphic artists, comic writers, the print team, the AV team, SEO and social media specialists and many more beyond.

“It’s a privilege to work somewhere where we’re allowed the creative freedom to take an idea and achieve such an ambitious goal, and we hope our readers see the passion that went into it.”

The accompanying comic, ‘My Granny is a Time Traveller’, is designed to help children understand why an elderly relative may be forgetting things.

It is downloadable online as well as being made available in a four-page pullout in DC Thomson’s news titles.

The writer of the comic recently lost his grandmother to dementia and in a fitting tribute, the story is dedicated to her.