A report released this week by the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 18% of the nation’s 79 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia at some point in their lives. The oldest baby boomers are turning 62 this year and they are entering the risk zone. The likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s doubles every five years after age 65.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, which is the loss of intellectual and social abilities severe enough to interfere with daily functioning. Dementia occurs in people with Alzheimer’s disease because healthy brain tissue degenerates, causing a steady decline in memory and mental abilities.
“What we’re faced with here is the boomer population coming of age,” said Gary Small, director of the UCLA Center on Aging. “There are going to be a lot more people at risk.”
If no cure for Alzheimer’s is found, the nation will be faced with a half million new cases of Alzheimer’s in 2010 and nearly a million a year by 2040. If left unchecked the coming Alzheimer’s epidemic will put a tremendous strain on the health care system, especially Medicare. In 2005, Medicare spent $91 billion on Alzheimer’s and other dementias and spending could jump to $160 billion by 2010 and $189 billion by 2015. Although tremendous progress has been made in Alzheimer’s research in the last few years, there is still no cure for this devastating disease.

Source: USA Today