Alzheimer's statistics

We all know someone suffering from Alzheimer's or we have friends who have a relative with it. I am surprised to find out how widespread Alzheimer's is in America. And it probably has been widespread for generations but only recently science and medicine has been able to identify it properly.

One of my clients (attorney Martha Jo Patterson) sends out emails to her clients and to the public about elder care issues, and she just sent out an email about Alzheimer's statistics which I thought was interesting.

Here are parts of it:

More women than men have Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s are women. Of the 5 million people age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s in the United States, 3.2 million are women and 1.8 million are men. Based on estimates 16 percent of women age 71 and older have Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias compared with 11 percent of men.

The larger proportion of older women who have Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is primarily explained by the fact that women live longer, on average, than men. Many studies of the age-specific incidence (development of new cases) of Alzheimer’s disease or any dementia have found no significant difference by gender. Thus, women are not more likely than men to develop dementia at any given age.

While most people in the United States living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias are non-Hispanic whites, older African-Americans and Hispanics are proportionately more likely than older whites to have Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Data indicate that in the United States, older African- Americans are probably about twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s and other dementias as older whites, and Hispanics are about one and one-half times as likely to have Alzheimer’s and other dementias as older whites.

Martha Jo Patterson is an Elder Law Attorney who specializes in the legal issues related to Alzheimer’s, and provide a resource for families at www.AlzhiemersAnswersNow.com. And she offers a free consultation. Call (866)452-9657 for information.