More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and blacks and Hispanics are at the highest risk of developing the disease, a new report finds. It also indicates that black Americans are about two times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than whites, and Hispanics face about 1.5 times the risk.
“Alzheimer’s is continuing to be on the rise,” says Maria Carrillo, PhD, the Alzheimer’s Association’s senior director of medical and scientific relations. “So many people are affected by it across the country, but we are rallying to highlight the disparities that exist in populations.”
Much of Alzheimer’s escalation is attributed to increasing high blood pressure and diabetes among older adults, which raise the odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease in all populations. “African Americans and Hispanics are particularly vulnerable, because the proportion of these two risk factors is higher even still,” Carrillo says. “We can actually do something about this increased risk with better management of the conditions.”
Not only are there more cases of Alzheimer’s, but more families are shouldering the burden of the disease, Carrillo says. This is particularly true for minority families who may have less access to outside care. “There are 5.3 million Americans with Alzheimer’s,” notes Robert J. Egge, the association’s vice president of public policy and advocacy. “And for each of those people there are many others whose lives are consumed with caring for those Alzheimer’s patients.” That totals some 11 million Americans, he adds.
In 2009, these unpaid caregivers provided 12.5 billion hours of care “valued at $144 billion, more than the federal government spends on Medicare and Medicaid combined for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias,” according to the report.
Part of the problem is that Alzheimer’s isn’t recognized until it is in a late stage, Egge says. “So there isn’t adequate care planning and other kinds of support structures, especially in communities with socioeconomic disadvantages,” he says.
Another reason behind Alzheimer’s grim surge is that people are living longer, escaping illnesses such as heart disease and cancer that might have killed them before developing Alzheimer’s. “We are managing many diseases that do allow us to live longer,” Carrillo says. “With age being the greatest risk factor, we are just skewing our population towards the Alzheimer’s arena.”
“We have some pretty effective solutions for a lifetime of cardiovascular disease risk, but your bypass and stent may just give you time to dement,” says Greg M. Cole, PhD, a neuroscientist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System and associate director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.
Often it all adds up to many years of needed care. And since it often takes a long time to die from Alzheimer’s, “you may have lost touch with your loved ones for 10 years, sometimes even 20,” Carrillo says.
Research dollars remain key to turning the numbers around, she says. “We really need to focus on Alzheimer’s. We need more of an investment in Alzheimer’s disease.”
The report found that payments for health and long-term care services for people with Alzheimer’s will total $172 billion this year. In addition, Medicare costs for Alzheimer’s patients are almost three times higher than for other older people, and Medicaid costs are almost nine times higher. Many people with Alzheimer’s also have one or more other medical conditions, such as diabetes or coronary heart disease, making their care even more expensive.
Yet far less is spent on Alzheimer’s research than on other diseases. “For every $25,000 the government spends on care for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, it spends only $100 for Alzheimer research,” the report says. According to Cole, “This new report details how the long-predicted ‘epidemic’ rise in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia is already upon us.”
The report also sounds the alarm that the situation may get worse before it gets better. “We hope to have better treatments, but cures are unlikely,” Cole says. “The only cost-effective answer we can realistically try to achieve is an effective prevention program.”
— Source: Brigham and Women’s Hospital
