National Plan for Alzheimer's Sets Goal for 2025
The outcome of last year's extensive information-gathering sessions is beginning to materialize. Just this morning, the Associated Press reported on a set of goals drafted by the Obama administration to develop "effective ways to treat and prevent the mind-destroying illness.*" What is perhaps most ambitious is the deadline: 2025.
Thirteen years may seem like a generous amount of time, but the situation is much more desperate than media coverage generally reports.
Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and it is the only one in the top ten that is not preventable, treatable, or curable. The disease is quickly moving toward the top of this tragic list as the population ages; and as the number of those diagnosed increases, so does the cost of caring for them.
Alzheimer's is a very expensive disease to be diagnosed with. It's fatal, but patients decline in health for a much longer time than most diseases. The average life-expectancy for someone diagnosed with Alzheimer's is about eight years.
Currently, an estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's or similar dementias; unpaid care by families and friends last year has been priced at over $202 billion by the government. Though staggering, these numbers are only expected to increase exponentially from here. By 2050, the number of people with Alzheimer's and related dementias is expected to top 15 million and cost upward of $1 trillion in medical and nursing home charges.+
If 2025 seems like a long way off, 2050 is an eternity. And, of course, 15 million is just a number.
But do the math: the 15 million people with Alzheimer's and related dementias by 2050 is us. Well-aged Baby Boomers may comprise some of the total, but the majority will be Gen X'ers and Gen Y/Millennials. Looking around at our friends and family today, can we spot the future 15 million?
I don't want to rely on scare tactics to convey the seriousness of the situation, but this is the reality as it is today. Funding for Alzheimer's care and research is frustratingly low and, in many places, being cut during current economic problems. Last year, the government gave billions of dollars for cancer and AIDS research, and only about $350 million for Alzheimer's research.
Of course, funding for all of these medical conditions is imperative, and I would never suggest reducing one research budget to accommodate another. The situation is this: Alzheimer's research needs adequate funding. It just does. We need to invest in a cure now so we aren't paying double later. No, clarification: so we aren't paying quadruple the monetary amount and triple the number of human lives.
Today's announcement of goals is encouraging. An outline of the plan is expected to be drafted in the next few months, and then, hopefully, things will really get rolling. The task of finding a cure is daunting, but there is just too much at stake to fail.
For more information on Alzheimer's or NAPA, visit the Alzhiemer's Association website (www.alz.org), or read AP Medical Writer Lauren Neergaard's article "US Wants Effective Alzheimer's Treatment by 2025."
*Lauren Neergaard, AP Medical Writer. Story posted 17 January 2012, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MED_ALZHEIMERS_PLAN?SITE=CAVIC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
+Statistics taken from 2011 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures http://www.alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2011.pdf
Thirteen years may seem like a generous amount of time, but the situation is much more desperate than media coverage generally reports.
Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and it is the only one in the top ten that is not preventable, treatable, or curable. The disease is quickly moving toward the top of this tragic list as the population ages; and as the number of those diagnosed increases, so does the cost of caring for them.
Alzheimer's is a very expensive disease to be diagnosed with. It's fatal, but patients decline in health for a much longer time than most diseases. The average life-expectancy for someone diagnosed with Alzheimer's is about eight years.
Currently, an estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's or similar dementias; unpaid care by families and friends last year has been priced at over $202 billion by the government. Though staggering, these numbers are only expected to increase exponentially from here. By 2050, the number of people with Alzheimer's and related dementias is expected to top 15 million and cost upward of $1 trillion in medical and nursing home charges.+
If 2025 seems like a long way off, 2050 is an eternity. And, of course, 15 million is just a number.
But do the math: the 15 million people with Alzheimer's and related dementias by 2050 is us. Well-aged Baby Boomers may comprise some of the total, but the majority will be Gen X'ers and Gen Y/Millennials. Looking around at our friends and family today, can we spot the future 15 million?
I don't want to rely on scare tactics to convey the seriousness of the situation, but this is the reality as it is today. Funding for Alzheimer's care and research is frustratingly low and, in many places, being cut during current economic problems. Last year, the government gave billions of dollars for cancer and AIDS research, and only about $350 million for Alzheimer's research.
Of course, funding for all of these medical conditions is imperative, and I would never suggest reducing one research budget to accommodate another. The situation is this: Alzheimer's research needs adequate funding. It just does. We need to invest in a cure now so we aren't paying double later. No, clarification: so we aren't paying quadruple the monetary amount and triple the number of human lives.
Today's announcement of goals is encouraging. An outline of the plan is expected to be drafted in the next few months, and then, hopefully, things will really get rolling. The task of finding a cure is daunting, but there is just too much at stake to fail.
For more information on Alzheimer's or NAPA, visit the Alzhiemer's Association website (www.alz.org), or read AP Medical Writer Lauren Neergaard's article "US Wants Effective Alzheimer's Treatment by 2025."
*Lauren Neergaard, AP Medical Writer. Story posted 17 January 2012, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MED_ALZHEIMERS_PLAN?SITE=CAVIC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
+Statistics taken from 2011 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures http://www.alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2011.pdf
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