Alzheimer's Rate Booms As Boomers Age

Report Says Aging Population Main Cause For 10 Percent Increase In Past 5 Years

(CBS/AP)  More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, a 10 percent increase since the last Alzheimer's Association estimate five years ago — and a count that supports the long-forecast dementia epidemic as the population grays.

Age is the biggest risk factor, and the report released Tuesday shows the nation is on track for skyrocketing Alzheimer's once the baby boomers start turning 65 in 2011. Already, one in eight people 65 and older have the mind-destroying illness; among those over 85, it's nearly one in two.

Unless scientists discover a way to delay Alzheimer's, some 7.7 million people are expected to have the disease by 2030, the report says. By 2050, that toll could reach 16 million.

Why? Ironically, in fighting heart disease, cancer and other diseases, "we're keeping people alive so they can live long enough to get Alzheimer's disease," explains association vice president Steve McConnell.

Indeed, government figures released last year that show small drops in deaths from most of the nation's leading killers between 2000 and 2004 — even as deaths attributed to Alzheimer's disease increased 33 percent.

The report also contains a startling finding, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston: There are an estimated 500,000 Americans with Alzheimer's who are under age 65.

Thanks to more awareness and better detection, the disease is being caught earlier.

"I think this has been drastically underreported," said Dr. Bill Thies, the Alzheimer's Association's medical director.

He cites as an example a 55-year-old having problems at work, such as behavior changes or missing deadlines, that may be early signs of brain impairment but that go unrecognized until they progress to full-scale memory problems.

The new report — based on federal population counts, not new disease research — is the first update of the Alzheimer's toll since 2002, when it was estimated to afflict 4.5 million people. It comes as Congress is considering funding for research into Alzheimer's and other diseases.

In the Senate today, there was also sobering testimony on what Alzheimer's costs every American, adds CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews.

According the Alzheimer's Association, the treatment of patients costs federal taxpayers $120 billion a year, mostly through Medicare.

Congress is considering ways to confront these costs. Ideas include a $3,000 tax credit to help family caregivers and a tax deduction for families buying long-term care insurance. There are also calls to double federal funding for Alzheimer's research, to $1.3 billion, reports Andrews.

No one knows what causes Alzheimer's creeping brain degeneration. It gradually robs sufferers of their memories and ability to care for themselves, eventually killing them. There is no known cure, and today's drugs only temporarily alleviate symptoms.

Because it complicates treatment for every other illness, the new report shows Medicare spends nearly three times as much for dementia patients' care as for the average beneficiary — $13,207 a year vs. $4,454. Medicare's spending on dementia-related care is projected to double to more than $189 million by 2015.

That doesn't include the value of the unpaid round-the-clock care that families and friends provide the vast majority of Alzheimer's patients who live at home — a tab the new report calculates at almost $83 billion — or nursing home costs.

There are nine drugs in late-stage clinical trials, including a few that aim to slow Alzheimer's worsening. If such drugs pan out, delaying Alzheimer's symptoms by even a few years could cut by millions the coming decades' predicted toll, the report notes.

[jamesinmn]

Two years ago, Alzheimer's was not even on the outer fringes of my radar screen. And then I began showing symptoms, was diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimer's disease.

I am 46 years old, married for 22 years, and the father of two college-age daughters. Prior to being diagnosed, I was a successful IT executive for a Fortune 100 company.

Many people think of Alzheimer's as an "old person's" disease - yet I now know that over 600,000 people under the age of 65 currently have the disease, and the numbers are rapidly rising.

This is not just a disease that affects individuals - it impacts entire families, cammunities, and has the potential to bankrupt our health care system, including Medicare.

Given these projected numbers and their implication for our society, we MUST get in front of this now, or we will be overwhelmed by it soon. Alzheimer's is is today where global warming was a decade ago - but we are very close to finding a solution.

I would urge you to write and call your representatives and tell them the importance of restoring and increasing funding for Alzheimer's research and support programs.

It's the only way we will be able to sucessfully avoid this looming public heath crisis.

Thank You!

"...treatment of patients costs [Medicare]...$120 billion a year...Ideas [to confront costs] include a $3,000 tax credit...a tax deduction for...long-term care insurance...[and doubling] research [funding] to $1.3 billion..."

"Medicare spends...$13,207 a year [for dementia patients] vs. $4,454 [for the average beneficiary, and spending for dementia patients is] projected to double to more than $189 million by 2015...unpaid round-the-clock care that families and friends provide [is]...almost $83 billion...[not including] nursing home costs."


What with Alzheimer's and equally pressing problems looming on the horizon (not to mention those problems NOW with us!), only the madman would contemplate yet another war.

The Bush-Chaney Iran War must be postponed -- indefinitely!

[dbfitch]

My grandmother had Alzheimers and now my mother and my mothers sister have Alzheimers. My mother was diagnosed at the age of 58 and we know she was having symptoms long before her diagnosis. She is now 66 and has been in a nursing home for over two years. My sister-in-laws mother had AD and died a few years ago in her early 60's. Her sister (my sister-in-laws sister) also had AD and she was 48 when she died. She left behind 3 children. Alzheimers is NOT only for the elderly.
Congress has got to be joking when they state giving a $3000 tax credit to help family caregivers. Do they know the exhausting, mentally, physically, and financial burdon a family member with Alzheimers puts on a caregiver? I do know. My father had Cancer and my mother could not take care of herself. I am single with 3 children and I had to use my vacation time and leave my children elsewhere so that I could take care of my parents. I am not even 40 years old yet. The government doesn't have a clue about Alzheimers and its demands.
We need further studies and more funding to help stop this horrible disease.
I told my father that I would like to know if I am going to get AD that way I could enjoy my life now, unlike my mother had a chance to do. He told me that it really wouldn't matter, because if I did have AD I wouldn't remember the good times anyway.
It is truely a horrible way to live.

[sueneely]

Can someone please tell me what Medicare is spending money on for Alzheimer patient care?
If it's medication, there is so little proof that any of it works that a placebo would probably do the same thing.
I am staying home taking care of my Mom which is a financial fiasco. I can't find anything that the government does to help.

[younghope02]

I must say I was in total surprise today to see that the stigma of Alzheimers Disease remains strong as on the show a Dr. reported that Alzheimers Disease is a disease of the aging. I find this to be a complete statement of ignorance to being educated about and understanding Alzheimers Disease. There was NOmention of Alzheimers Disease below the age of 60. I myself was diagnosed in 2002 at 38 years old. Out of last years numbers of the estimated 4.5 million people with Alzheimers Disease there are 640,000 people included in this THAT ARE BELOW THE AGE OF 65. Yes, this disease is an epidemic but it isn't because of our aging population it is become of the stigma that remains with this disease becasue not only are people in denial of the disease but President Bush is and has been cutting funding for research and programs that are vital to individuals with Alzheimers Disease. I encourage each individual out there that is either a person with Early Onset AD themselves or a loved one to please stand up and make your voices heard!!!

[baldfrog-2009]

I commented on this years (1981) ago when a stupid student from USC called in about no new taxes and reaganomics . Welp it's time to pay up young turks you borrowed from our part of the social security pot so you could have no new taxes,yes the money we paid was there and got stripped out in loans for stuff like star wars defense, and other pork barrel republican projects then bush whines we got to do some thing about it.no you like to do that over the back of those who paid for it dubya.pay the money back you republicans stole from us over the past years you stooges. Yes kids it's time to pay granddaddy and gradma,but what you really want is the slow genecide of the elderly you sick ******* ***.you know advanced directives and all the other vogue *** your trying to sell the elderly.pay the money your party stole for their projects,(whoops borrowed) we did our part you sick punks.

[mark19772]

It is a sad reality, but people around the world used to live way longer than now with no such deseases, whats happened now?!!! food not healthy, water not healthy, air not clean, we don't excersise...many things changed in the last 50 years in people's lifes, and after all we want to stay as healthy as our grandfathers generations!!!.

[thomderr]

Albeit, it is a scary feeling to know that a disease can creep up on your mind, without your knowledge.

My mother passed from Alzheimers in 2002.

It was the worst deterioration of a persons life that I could witness on a day - to - day basis.

There are to many of us "'NEW' old people" to not find a cure.

[us_infidel]

Just because I'm a baby boomer doesn't mean that my mind isn't as sharp as a......uh, what was the question again?
Posted by extremophil at 11:41 AM : Mar 20, 2007

LOL....you sound like Hillary at one of her town hall meetings! :) Hey, let's go ride our bikes!!!!

[rohink-2009]

Yep, the baby boomers are going to be a huge burden on society. Anyone ever see the movie Solient Green? Google it if you haven't. That will be governments answer to dealing with the problem.

[gwagener]

I suspect the epedemic in obesity among baby boomers will take care of a big part of the problem. I think the confidence in the ability of medical science to keep the boomers alive is exagerated.

[darkfyreaol]

We've all got to go someday. Whether it's cancer, cardiac arrest, old age, or a car accident, it's bound to happen. Nobody wants to die, but it's a fact of life. We're spending billions on research into prolonging people's lives, without paying much concern that such research could also prolong someone's pain and suffering. If you want to help someone, find a treatment that eliminates the illness, rather than slowing it down.

[random_radar]

Ironically, in fighting heart disease, cancer and other diseases, "we're keeping people alive so they can live long enough to get Alzheimer's disease,"

And now we need to slow the progression of Alzheimr's so people can die of something even more awful.

Truly there are fates worse than death, and millions of people have the opportunity to experience them courtesy of loving relatives and legally hamstrung care providers.

I plan to retire in the country far away from a hospital so that I can actually die instead of living the creeping horror of modern medicine. As long as I can take care of myself, great. When I can't, I will face death like a man and die with dignity.

But other people have different ideas. You ought to work in a hospice or "rest" home for a while before you decide...

[Syndicate]

Wikipedia says that certain Genes may be involved.