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Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Almost 14% of Senior Citizens over 70 Have Dementia,
10% have Alzheimer’s
Dementia escalates rapidly for the elderly, passes
37% at age 90
 Oct. 30, 2007 - One in seven Americans over the age
of 70 suffers from dementia, About 3.4 million people, or 13.9 percent
of the population age 71 and older, have some form of dementia – that’s
one out of seven – says a new study noting that the prevalence of
dementia increases dramatically with age. Just about 5% of those aged 71
to 79 are afflicted but that jumps to 37.4% after reaching age 90.
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Read the latest news
on
Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health |
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About 2.4 million of those with dementia, or 9.7
percent of the population age 71 and older, were found to have
Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, according to the
first known nationally representative, population-based study to include
men and women from all regions of the country.
Published in the November 2007 issue of
Neuroepidemiology, the study is based on data from 856 men and women who
participated in the Aging, Demographics and Memory Study conducted in
2002 by researchers at the University of Michigan Institute for Social
Research (ISR) and Duke University Medical Center and funded by the
National Institute on Aging.
The study was part of the larger ISR Health and
Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of Americans age 51
and older.
“These conditions affect millions of older
Americans and touch nearly every family in some way, and the situation
is only going to get worse as the population ages,” said Duke University
researcher Brenda Plassman, the lead author of the journal article.
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The study provides the first prevalence estimates
based on a nationally representative sample of older adults from all
regions of the United States, allowing policymakers and care providers
to make better plans for caring for those with dementia and their
families.
Plassman and co-author Kenneth Langa, who is
affiliated with ISR and with the U-M and Veterans Affairs Health
Systems, also note that the findings will assist in assessments of the
impact of future treatment advances as they become available, and in
gauging how well the country is doing in controlling and treating
Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
“These data about dementia are linked to an
enormous wealth of economic, health, psychological, and other
information about these same individuals and their families over time,”
said Richard Suzman, director of the Behavioral and Social Research
Program at the National Institute on Aging.
“We can now track the impact and costs of dementia
on society, the economy, and families in ways we never could before.”
For the study, participants were assessed in their
homes by a specially trained nurse and neuropsychology technician, using
a diagnostic protocol similar to the type of memory evaluation done in a
medical clinic.
The team collected detailed information about how
the participant was functioning in daily activities from a knowledgeable
informant, usually a family member or close friend. They also
administered a battery of neuropsychological tests, including measures
of memory, orientation, language, attention and problem solving ability.
In addition, DNA samples were collected from a cheek swab to test for
the presence of the APOE e4 allele, which has been linked to an
increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
The information was reviewed in case conferences by
a team of Duke physicians and psychologists, and final diagnoses were
made by another consensus panel of experts.
Alzheimer's is 69.9% of all dementia
Overall, the researchers found that Alzheimer’s
disease accounted for approximately 69.9 percent of all dementia, while
vascular dementia – often caused by stroke – accounted for 17.4 percent.
With increasing age, Alzheimer’s disease accounted for progressively
more of the dementia cases, so that in the 90+ age group, it comprised
79.5 percent of dementia cases, compared to 46.7 percent among those in
their 70s.
Gene linked to AD
The researchers also examined how education,
gender, and APOE genotype were related to dementia. They found that the
more years of education, the lower the risk of dementia. After
controlling for education levels and age, they found no significant
difference in dementia risk between males and females. As expected, they
found that the presence of one or two APOE e4 alleles was linked with
significantly higher risk of developing dementia.
To facilitate comparison of their findings with
estimates from earlier studies using a lower minimum age, the
researchers combined their estimates for ages 71 and over with those
from other studies for ages 60 to 70. This resulted in an estimated
total of 3.8 million people with dementia, including just over 2.5
million with Alzheimer’s disease.
The only previous national estimate of dementia
prevalence, obtained by extrapolating from regional samples, was 2.9
million, the researchers noted. “Our study finds that the prevalence of
dementia is about 30 percent higher than this estimate,” Langa said.
Four previous national estimates of the prevalence
of Alzheimer’s disease were all obtained by extrapolation from regional
samples. These estimates ranged from 2.1 million to 4.5 million.
“What this study and others before it confirm is
that there are millions of Americans living with Alzheimer’s and
dementia, and that number is estimated to grow at an epidemic rate if we
don’t do something about it,” said William Thies, vice president of
Medical and Scientific Relations at the Alzheimer’s Association. “The
nation’s leaders need to act now to advance research for effective
treatments and provide care and support to those living with
Alzheimer’s.”
“As the elderly population in the United States
grows, the number of individuals with dementia will certainly increase
tremendously,” said U-M economist David Weir, who directs the ISR Health
and Retirement Study.
“Planning for the long-term care needs of this
vulnerable population will become increasingly important. This new data,
used along with related data from the Health and Retirement Study,
should increase our nation’s ability to successfully meet the needs of
an aging U.S. population and those who love them.”
Notes:
For the on-line version of the Neuroepidemiology
article, visit:
http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=Ausgabe&Ausgabe=233821&ProduktNr=224263
For more information about the ISR Health and
Retirement Study and about the Aging, Demographics and Memory Study,
visit:
http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/
To read the National Institute on Aging news
release on this study:
www.nia.nih.gov/ResearchInformation/HRS.htm.
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