Researchers are pushing harder to find a cure for Alzheimer's. The latest research reports that the rate of this disease will rise faster than previously thought. In 2020, there will be a 27 percent increase in cases compared with today's numbers, and by 2030 rates will climb 70 percent. And by 2050, unless science intervenes, cases will rise nearly 300 percent, or 13.2 million people. Currently, an estimated 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's.
Lead researcher Denis Evans and colleagues suggest that the rapidly growing rate of the disease is the result of demographic shifts and a healthier public. There been rapid growth in the oldest age group of 85 or older, who are most susceptible to Alzheimer's. Also people are living longer, and by 2050, the death rate for those over 65 is predicted to drop to half its current level.
Evans warns that the growth in Alzheimer's cases will become an ever-increasing burden to health care systems. Without advances that would slow or cure the disease, Medicare and Medicaid may be unable to afford treatment programs. Sheldon Goldberg, president of the Alzheimer's Association, suggests that more money should be invested in research to prevent these projections from becoming reality.
