Health Highlight

Alzheimer’s Disease

Part Two:  By The Numbers

 

            In Monday’s posting I gave a brief breakdown of the history of Alzheimer’s disease and what scientist believe is the cause of the illness.  The challenge in accurately attributing the full impact of Alzheimer’s is that when a patient who suffers from Alzheimer’s passes it is not always noted on the death certificate or reported as a root cause of death so reporting agencies may be under reporting the full scale of the total impact on our society but according to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s in the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.  Currently there are over 5 million people in the U.S. who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and that number is expected to grow.  But who is most likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s and when is it most likely to strike?

 

            The Alzheimer’s Association’s website is a great resource for further reading on the national impact of this illness and I’m just hitting some of the points to try and raise awareness.  Currently, 1 in 9 people 65 years old has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and for those people who are 85 years or older that number changes to 2 in 5.  Women are almost twice as likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s as men but that could also be because women statistically outlive men and thus are more prone to issues that afflict older populations.   The economic cost to our national economy is just as staggering as the human cost of this disease as well.  It is estimated that the cost of Alzheimer’s in 2016 will be to the tune of $236 Billion dollars and that is for the paid medical cost for caregivers and treatment.  The lost wages and time for unpaid caregivers such as family member or friends taking time off work to care for their loved one cost the average family about $5,000 per year (this is lost wages not medical expenses).  So the burden of watching a loved one struggle is also coupled with financial burdens that only add more stress to a stressful event.

 

            Here in Indiana, the numbers look something like this, currently there are about 110,000 case of Alzheimer’s in Indiana and that number is expected to grow to 130,000 by the year 2025.  The State of Indiana paid out over $935 million dollars in Medicaid fund to help with healthcare costs for people with Alzheimer’s and that’s not including Medicare or unpaid care.  In 2013 the state lost just over 2,100 people to Alzheimer’s and that number is up 74% from the year 2000.  Indiana has kept pace with the rest of the nation as Alzheimer’s is also the sixth leading cause of death in the state matching the rest of the country.  And like the rest of the country, by the year 2050 comes rolling around, 1 in three seniors will die from Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia. 

 

            Again, I highly encourage you to visit the Alzheimer’s Association’s website to check out more information on this illness and the impact it has on our society.  You can find it at https://www.alz.org/ and I encourage you to view the different pages and links provided.  The more awareness we can raise the better the chance that someday there might be a medication or protocol that can arrest the progress of this disease.  There are some promising studies underway now but we are essentially years away from finding out if researcher are even on the right path by attacking the amyloid plaques or if researchers need to focus down a different path…but progress is being made…

 

            I hope everyone has a great weekend as many communities kick off Holiday festivals celebrating Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and the Yule.  However you celebrate this time of year, I hope that you and your families find peace and joy.  Take care of yourself and each other, remember, we’re all in this together.

 

Wm Reid

Best Home Care Services

325 N Eastern Ave

Connersville, IN 47331

765-827-9833

wmreid@bhcshealth.com