Million Americans Will Get Alzheimer’s by 2050

If there are no major advancements in the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer’s in the near future, more severe forms of the disease will develop.

What’s more, the percentage of baby boomers with Alzheimer’s will increase, rising from 1.2 percent in 2020 to 50.1 percent in 2050, when all of surviving baby boomers will be at least 85 years old, according to the study that was presented today (July 20) at the Alzheimer’s Association global Conference in Washington, D.C. (The risk of Alzheimer’s disease increases with age, to nearly 50 percent among those older than 85, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.). That’s up from an estimated 1.2% prevalence of Alzheimer’s among boomers in 2020, when most boomers will be in their 60s and early 70s, Alecxih said.

Fargo points to recent advances in the treatment of HIV, cancer, and heart disease, saying the same financial commitment made to battling those deadly diseases is needed to tame Alzheimer’s disease. “The incidence of the disease increases as you grow older, as does the severity”, Alecxih said. By 2040, when the baby boom generation is aged 76-94, the projected Medicare costs ($328.15 billion, in 2014 dollars) increase to 24.2% of total Medicare spending, according to the new analysis.

“Even with historic leadership by Congress last month, Alzheimer’s is extremely underfunded compared to the magnitude of the problem”.

Barring the discovery of treatment that could delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, the cost of caring for baby boomers with the disorder by 2040 will eat up a quarter of the nation’s total Medicare spending, researchers have estimated. It would have the potential to save $220 billion in the first five years and decrease the amount of people with the disease in 2050 by 42 percent. Abstract #6299.The Projected Impact of the Baby Boomers on the Trajectory of and Spending on Alzheimer’s Disease. A current research that was submitted on the Alzheimer’s Association global Conference confirms that it will be fairly unsafe.

The estimates were used Monday to sound a clarion call for more research funding aimed at finding ways to prevent, delay and treat the disease that progressively robs patients of their memory and their ability to function.

An Alzheimer’s Association report released this year suggested that the economic and health care burden the USA faces over the next two decades could be greatly mitigated if a treatment that delays the onset of AD by 5 years is introduced by 2025. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer’s.