The Alzheimer's Association recently released the 2024 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Overall, the report unveils the tremendous burden that Alzheimer's and dementia poses on the individuals affected, the caregivers, the government and the nation's health care system. The message is clear: we cannot ignore Alzheimer’ s disease any longer!
Here are some facts:
1. Almost 7 million people aged 65 and older in the U.S. are living with Alzheimer’s disease (1 million more compared with last year).
2. 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia.
3. Alzheimer’s disease kills more than breast and prostate cancer combined.
4. Over 11 million of Americans provide care for people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias without pay, which is estimated to be equivalent to 18 billion working hours and to be worth roughly $347 billion.
5. In recent years deaths for heart disease have decreased about 2.1%, by contrast deaths for Alzheimer’s disease have increased 141%.
6. This year the cost of caring for these individuals is expected to reach $360 billion – an increase of $15 billion over last year.
While these new numbers are reason for serious concerns, we cannot underestimate the advancements that we are witnessing every day in what we call a new era of Alzheimer’s research with several new drugs and biomarker breakthroughs like the FDA approval of immunotherapies and the emergence of novel blood tests that are approaching the specificity and sensitivity of the current gold standard diagnostics such as PET scans and CSF tests.
We all know very well that behind those numbers there are loved ones, friends, parents, family members, and neighbours so let’s honour all of them by standing together against the disease, because only if we are united and engage as many people as possible, we will win this fight.
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Domenico Praticò, MD, holds the position of the Scott Richards North Star Charitable Foundation Chair for Alzheimer’s Research and serves as a Professor and the Director at the Alzheimer’s Center at Temple, as well as a Professor of Pharmacology at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.
For more information on the research conducted by Dr. Domenico Pratico, please visit this link.
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Stay updated with the work happening at Dr. Domenico Pratico's lab by visiting the Pratico Lab website.
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