Poll: Nearly Half of Americans Concerned about Alzheimer's
This poll was taken as part of CBS News' "Where America Stands" series, an in-depth look at where the country stands today on key topics and an outlook for the future decade.
Just a quarter of Americans give the country a grade of A or B when it comes to finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease, according to the poll, which was conducted from Dec. 17 – 22, 2009. Thirty-nine percent give the country a C, and another 27 percent give it a D or F. There are no differences by age.
Fifty-four percent of Americans expect a cure for Alzheimer's to be found in their lifetime, but 44 percent do not expect to see that happen. Those age 65 and over are most pessimistic about a cure being found in their lifetime; 19 percent in that group say that is not at all likely.
More than 5 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer's, CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports, and that number is expected to rise to as many as 16 million by 2050.
Dr. William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer for the Alzheimer's Association, told Dr. LaPook people should be demanding that more resources be put toward finding better treatment for Alzheimer's.
Twenty-three percent of Americans have had to care for a parent or relative with Alzheimer's.
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Among Americans overall, 45 percent are very or somewhat worried about getting Alzheimer's themselves someday, and 54 percent are not worried. Those who have had to take care of a relative with Alzheimer's are more likely to be worried; 58 percent of them are.
People under 30 are least likely to worry about getting this disease someday.
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Read the Complete Poll
This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,048 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone December 17-22, 2009. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
