A new government-funded report confirms what advocacy groups
have been warning for years: The number of people in the USA
with Alzheimer's disease will almost triple by 2050, straining
the health care system and taxing the health of caregivers.
Numbers are projected to rise from about 5 million now to 13.8
million. The disease robs people of their memory, erases
personality and makes even routine tasks like dressing and
bathing impossible. "We're going to need coordinated efforts for
this upcoming epidemic,'' says lead author Jennifer Weuve,
assistant professor of medicine at Rush Institute for Healthy
Aging in Chicago. "People have trouble getting their heads
around these numbers, but imagine if everyone in the state of
Illinois (population 12.8 million) had Alzheimer's. I look
around Chicago and can't imagine it.'' The study is published
Wednesday in the journal Neurology. Researchers analyzed
information from 10,802 black and white Chicago residents, ages
65 and older, from 1993 to 2011. Participants were