Alzheimer's Disease

• An estimated 6.2 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2021.
• More than 1 in 9 people (11.3%) age 65 and older has Alzheimer's dementia.
• Two-thirds of Americans over age 65 with Alzheimer’s dementia (3.8 million) are women
• Death due to Alzheimer’s between 2000 and 2019 has more than doubled, increasing 145%.
• 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia.

• In 2020 more than 11 million caregivers of people with Alzheimer's or other dementias provided an estimated 15.3 bllion hours of unpaid care, a contribution to the nation valued at $267 billion.
• Nearly half of all employers (48%) who provide help to older adults do so for someone with Alzheimer's or another dementia.
• Approximately two-thirds of caregivers are women, and one-third of dimentia caregivers are daughters.
• Forty-one percent of caregivers have a household income of $50,000 or less.

• In 2021, total payments for all individuals with Alzheimer's or other dementias are estimated at $355 billion (not including unpaid caregiving).
• Medicare and Medicaid are expected to cover $239 billion or 67% of the total health care and long-term payments for people with Alzheimer's or other dementias. Out-of-pocket spending is expected to be $76 billion.
• Total payments for health care, long-term care and hospice care for people with Alzheimer's and other dementias are projected to increase to more than $1.1 trillion in 2050.
• The total lifetime cost of care for someone with dementia is estimated at $373,527.

Race, Ethnicity, and Discrimination

• Two-thirds of Black Americans (66%) believe it is harder for them to get excellent care for Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. Likewise, 2 in 5 Native Americans (40%) and Hispanic Americans (39%) believe their own race or ethnicity makes it harder to get care, as do one-third of Asian Americans (34%).

• Nearly two-thirds of Black Americans (62%) believe that medical research is biased against people of color — a view shared by substantial numbers of Asian Americans (45%), Native Americans (40%) and Hispanic Americans (36%) as well. Only half of Black Americans (53%) trust a future cure for Alzheimer’s will be shared equally regardless of race, color or ethnicity.

• Fewer than half of Black (48%) and Native Americans (47%) feel confident they have access to providers who understand their ethnic or racial background and experiences, and only about 3 in 5 Asian Americans (63%) and Hispanics (59%) likewise feel confident.

• Half of Black Americans (50%) report they’ve experienced discrimination when seeking health care; more than 4 in 10 Native Americans (42%) and one-third of Asian Americans (34%) and Hispanic Americans (33%) likewise report having experienced health care discrimination.

Check out the FDA's New Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease