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10 Million Boomers Face Alzheimer's

Caseload likely to more than double as population ages

March 19, 2008

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As the baby boom generation ages, it will magnify the number of afflictions affecting the elderly, including dementia. In fact, a new report by the Alzheimer's Association projects that as many as 10 million baby boomers in the U.S. will eventually develop Alzheimer's, a degenerative and always fatal disease.

Today, as many as 5.2 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, which includes between 200,000-500,000 people under age 65 with young-onset Alzheimer's disease or other dementias.

Experts predict by 2010, there will be almost a half million new cases of Alzheimer's disease each year; and by 2050, there will be almost a million new cases each year. Eventually, the report says, the disease will strike one out of every eight boomers.

Alzheimer's disease is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. and the fifth leading cause of death for those over age 65. The report offers numerous statistics that convey the burden Alzheimer's imposes on individuals, families, government, business, and the nation's health and long term care systems. For example:

• Every 71 seconds, someone in America develops Alzheimer's disease; by mid-century someone will develop Alzheimer's every 33 seconds.

• Women are nearly twice as likely as men to develop Alzheimer's disease (17 percent vs. 9 percent). One in six women and one in ten men age 55 and older can expect to develop Alzheimer's disease in their remaining lifetime. Although it may appear that being female is a risk factor, more women will develop Alzheimer's because on average, women live longer than men, thereby having more time to develop the disease.

• In 2007, there were nearly 10 million Americans age 18 and over providing 8.4 billion hours of unpaid care to people with Alzheimer's disease valued at $89 billion, four times more than what Medicaid pays for nursing home care for people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

• In addition, a quarter million American children age 8 to 18 years old are providing care to loved ones with Alzheimer's.

• There are 1 to 1.4 million "long distance caregivers" in the United States. About 1 million live more than two hours or more away and another 400,000 live at least an hour away from their loved ones. Many of these long distance caregivers also incur higher caregiving-related expenses compared to other caregivers.

• Seventy percent of people with Alzheimer's and other dementias live at home where friends and family take care of them.

"The information in the 2008 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures makes it clear the Alzheimer crisis cannot be ignored – not when 10 million baby boomers are at risk for developing this fatal disease," said Harry Johns, President and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association. "Unchecked, this disease will impose staggering consequences on families, the economy and the nation's health and long term care infrastructure."

According to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 2000-2005 death rates have declined for most major diseases -- heart disease (-8.6 percent), breast cancer (-.8 percent), prostate cancer (-4.9 percent) and stroke (-14.4 percent), while Alzheimer's disease deaths continue to trend upward, increasing 45 percent during that period.

"We have the opportunity to change the trajectory of this disease now. Today's scientific landscape is rich with possible disease-modifying treatments – but the shrinking investment in Alzheimer research threatens these breakthroughs," Johns said. "There is real hope for a better future where Alzheimer's is no longer a death sentence but how fast we get there depends on how much we are willing to invest today."

Johns says Medicare currently spends more than three times as much for people with Alzheimer's and other dementias than for the average Medicare beneficiary. In 2005, Medicare spent $91 billion on beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias and is projected to spend $160 billion by 2010 and $189 billion by 2015.

In 2005, state and federal Medicaid spending for nursing home and home care for people with Alzheimer's and other dementias was estimated at $21 billion and is projected to increase to $24 billion in 2010 and $27 billion in 2015.

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