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 in the hope that it will help you understand the disease.
I. Summary
1. More than 5 million Americans suffer from this disease.
2. Every 67 seconds, 1 person in the United States is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
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 to people with Alzheimer’s disease, with a total value of more than $220 billion.
II. Women and Alzheimer’s disease
1. A 60-year-old woman has a 1 in 6 chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease and a mere 1 in 11 chance of developing 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.
III. About prevalence
In 2014, it was estimated that there were 5.2 million people with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States. Of these, about 200,000 have early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and they are younger than 65 years old.
IV.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, the number of deaths from Alzheimer’s disease increased by 68%.
V. The burden on family members
In 2013, 15.5 million caregivers (primarily family members and friends of patients) provided a total of 17.7 billion hours of unpaid care to people with Alzheimer’s disease, totaling more than $220 billion in value. This is 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 very heavy, 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 of people report symptoms of depression.
VI. Medical Costs of Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most costly diseases in the U.S. Direct spending for Alzheimer’s patients in the U.S. reached $214 billion in 2014, with $150 billion of that going to 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 essentially 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.
VII. Higher incidence than breast cancer
The risk of Alzheimer’s disease for women at age 65 is about 1 in 6, compared to 1 in 11 for breast cancer, and while breast cancer has always been a health concern for women, we cannot ignore that after age 60, their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease is nearly twice 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.