Annual Cost Per Person with Alzheimer’s Will Double to $140,000+ by 2050

General Posted by anthony Date April 10, 2015

As baby boomers age, shifting nationwide demographics with them, the financial burden of AlzheimerÛªs disease on the United States will skyrocket from $307 billion annually to $1.5 trillion, USC researchers announced. Health policy researchers at the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics used models that incorporate trends in health, health care costs, education and demographics to explore the future impact of one of humanityÛªs costliest diseases on the nationÛªs population. Other key findings include:

From 2010 to 2050, the number of individuals aged 70+ with AlzheimerÛªs will increase by 153 percent, from 3.6 to 9.1 million.
Annual per-person costs of the disease were $71,000 in 2010, which is expected to double by 2050.
Medicare and Medicaid currently bear 75 percent of the costs of the disease.

ÛÏAlzheimerÛªs disease is a progressive disease with symptoms that gradually worsen over time. People donÛªt get better,Û said Julie Zissimopoulos, lead author of the study and an assistant professor at the USC Price School of Public Policy.Û¬Û¬ ÛÏIt is so expensive because individuals with AlzheimerÛªs disease need extensive help with daily activities provided by paid caregivers or by family members who may be taking time off of work to care for them, which has a double impact on the economy,Û she said. ÛÏIn late stages of the disease,Û she added, ÛÏthey need help with personal care and lose the ability to control movement which requires 24-hour care, most often in an institutional setting.Û The team found that delaying the onset of AlzheimerÛªs even a little can yield major benefits ÛÓ both in quality of life and in overall costs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2012, 43.1 million Americans were 65 and older, constituting 14 percent of the population. By 2050, that number will more than double to 83.7 million, constituting 21 percent of the population. Medical advances that delay the onset of AlzheimerÛªs by five years add about 2.7 years of life for patients. By 2050, a five-year delay in onset results in a 41 percent lower prevalence of the disease in the population and lowers the overall costs to society by 40 percent, according to the teamÛªs research. ÛÏOur colleagues in the medical field are working on ways to understand how the disease interferes with brain processes ÛÓ and then stop it,Û said Zissimopoulos, who is also an associate director at the USC Schaeffer Center. ÛÏInvestment in their work now could yield huge benefits down the line.Û The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Peruse our blog and you will find no shortage of information that you can use to keep dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, at bay.

Short People Have No Reason…..Under 5’5″? You’re 50% More Likely to Get Dementia

General Posted by anthony Date April 8, 2015

It’s not automatic that you will get dementia if you are short. Environment while you are growing up plays a big role.

Short People Have No Reason…..Under 5’5″? You’re 50% More Likely to Get Dementia As reported in The Telegraph, short men are more likely to die from dementia than taller men, scientists have found, in the first ever study to link height with mental decline in old age. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that men who were 5ft 5 inches or shorter were 50 per cent more likely to develop, and die from dementia, that those who were 5ft 8 inches or taller. They warn that lifelong damage can take place while the body is growing which may not be apparent until much later in life and suggest that breakfast clubs, vaccination programmes and improved parenting schemes could help tackle the growing dementia timebomb. The huge study of nearly 220,000 people across Britain, found men who were 5ft 5inches or shorter were 50 per cent more likely to develop dementia that those who were 5ft 8 inches or shorter. The researchers speculate that women are less influenced by the effects of nutrition and stress in childhood. ÛÏShort height in itself of course does not Û÷causeÛª dementia. Rather, height captures a number of early life factors, including early-life illness, adversity, poor nutrition, and psychosocial stress, and so allows us to examine the effect of these factors on dementia more closely,Û said co-author Dr David Batty, of the Department of Epidemiology & Public Health at University College London. The new study suggests that tackling childhood poverty and nutrition in early life could help stop the disease developing. Prof Tim Frayling, Professor of Human Genetics, University of Exeter Medical School, said: “The authors are not claiming that height directly alters risk of dementia. They are actually claiming something more subtle and less controversial. That is that height is a marker of early life factors which predict death from dementia. ÛÏAnd people of generally better health and wealth are likely to have access to better healthcare and therefore their decline from dementia may be less steep.” So I am am 5′ 3 3/4″. My mom is 4′ 10″. I was not raised in poverty or subject to bad nutrition and other risk factors that would have caused me to grow taller. I am simply short because genetically I had no chance. So I think there is a balance here. So don’t jump to conclusions. Each situation is unique.