We all talk about Alzheimer’s disease and the aging population crisis, but who can say exactly what the current state of Alzheimer’s disease is? We have compiled a summary of the current status of Alzheimer’s disease and summarized it in a brief form that we hope will help you understand the disease.
Summary.
1. More than 5 million Americans have the disease.
2. 1 person in the United States is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease every 67 seconds.
3. Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
4. Every year, about 500,000 Americans die because of Alzheimer’s disease.
5.1/3 of elderly deaths are related to Alzheimer’s disease or other cognitive disorders.
6. In 2013, 15.5 million caregivers provided a total of 17.7 billion hours of unpaid care for people with Alzheimer’s disease, worth more than $220 billion.
Women and Alzheimer’s disease.
1, A 60-year-old woman has a 1 in 6 chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease, compared to just 1 in 11 for breast cancer.
2, Nearly two-thirds of American Alzheimer’s disease patients are women.
3, female caregivers provide 24/7 care for Alzheimer’s patients with 2.5 times more work than men.
4. More than 60% of caregivers with Alzheimer’s disease or other cognitive disorders are women.
Regarding prevalence.
In 2014, there were an estimated 5.2 million people with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States. Of these, about 200,000 had early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and were younger than 65 years of age.
Regarding mortality.
Each year, more than 500,000 older Americans die from Alzheimer’s disease, and 500,000 lives would be saved each year if Alzheimer’s disease did not exist. Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and its actual number of deaths will be greater than the official statistics. Alzheimer’s disease kills more people than prostate cancer and breast cancer combined. From 2000 to 2010, deaths from Alzheimer’s disease increased by 68 percent.
Burden on families.
In 2013, 15.5 million caregivers (primarily family members and friends of patients) provided a total of 17.7 billion hours of unpaid care for people with Alzheimer’s disease, worth more than $220 billion. That’s eight times the total revenue of McDonald’s in 2012. More than 60 percent of caregivers with Alzheimer’s disease or other cognitive disorders are women.
Caregivers with Alzheimer’s disease face a devastating loss. caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders invested $9.3 billion in additional medical spending in 2013. The physical and emotional burden of caring for patients is also significant, with nearly 60 percent of caregivers with Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders experiencing high levels of emotional stress; while more than one-third report symptoms of depression.
Health care costs of Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most costly diseases in the U.S. Direct spending for people with Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. amounted to $214 billion in 2014, of which $150 billion went to pay for Medicare and Medicaid. In 2050 the U.S. is expected to spend more than $1.2 trillion on Alzheimer’s disease. About $1 in every $5 spent on health care in the United States is spent on Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders. People with Alzheimer’s disease spend three times more per capita on health care than others without the disease and 19 times more than other people of the same age without the disease.
People with Alzheimer’s disease spend roughly the same amount as their family’s income. A total of $37 billion is spent on Alzheimer’s disease in the United States, while an estimated $36 billion is not recorded as being spent on the disease.
Incidence higher than breast cancer.
Women suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and at age 65, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease is about 1 in 6 for American women, compared to 1 in 11 for breast cancer, which has always been a health concern for women, not to mention that after age 60, their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease is nearly twice as high as that of breast cancer.
Not only are women more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, they are also more likely to be caregivers of those with Alzheimer’s disease. More than 3 in 5 unpaid caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease are women, and female caregivers have 2.5 times more workload than men to provide around-the-clock care for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Because of the work involved in caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease, women give a lot. Nearly 19 percent of female Alzheimer’s disease caregivers had to quit their jobs, either to become a caregiver or because their caregiving work became too overwhelming.