Alzheimer's Disease Facts
- Alzheimer's disease is a disorder that kills brain cells and causes a gradual decline in memory, a change in personality and behavior and eventually, death. About 4.5 million Americans, most of them elderly, have been diagnosed with the disease. There is no known cure.
- The Alzheimer's Association reports that 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's. Without a cure or method of prevention, by 2050 the number of individuals with Alzheimer's could range from 11.3 million to 16 million.
- The average cost of care for an individual with Alzheimer's disease is $174,000.
- Behavioral symptoms common to Alzheimer's include paranoia, delusions, depression, agitation, sleeplessness and anxiety. Other common symptoms of the disease include memory loss that affects job performance, difficulty performing familiar tasks, misplacing things, personality and behavioral changes, loss of initiative, poor or weakened judgment, disorientation of time and place, and problems with language.
- Alzheimer's is more likely to occur as a person gets older. One in 10 individuals over 65 and nearly half over 85 are affected. Alzheimer's can occur in middle age individuals as well in cases of rare, inherited forms of disease.
- There is no single proven laboratory diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease. Clinical methods combine physical and neuropsychological testing with caregiver input and the physician's judgement. This method is about 90% accurate.
- Alzheimer's disease costs American businesses over $61 billion a year. Of that figure, $24.6 billion covers Alzheimer health care and $36.5 billion covers costs related to caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's.
- Alzheimer's disease costs the U.S. at least $100 billion a year. Neither Medicare nor most private health insurance covers the long-term care most patients need.
- More than 7 of 10 people with Alzheimer's disease live at home. Almost 75% of home care is provided by family and friends. The remainder is paid care costing an average of $19,000 per year. Families pay almost all of that out-of-pocket.
- The average cost for nursing home care is $42,000 per year but can exceed $70,000 per year in some areas of the country.
- In a national survey, 1 in 10 Americans said they had a family member with Alzheimer's disease and 1 in 3 said they knew someone with the disease.
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