May 28, 2018 – Alzheimer’s Burden

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Anchor lead: Just how big a problem is Alzheimer’s disease? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Deaths from Alzheimer’s disease have increased by 123%, while deaths from other causes like heart disease and cancer have declined, the latest data from the Alzheimer’s Association report. Constantine Lyketsos, an Alzheimer’s expert at Johns Hopkins, says even the newest therapies won’t help in the short term.

Lyketsos: These therapies, the amyloid busting drugs, the other things that we’re seeing in the pipeline, even though they are disease targeted, even though they’ll probably bend the curve, they’re not going to stop the curve. Let’s say some of these make it out to the market. It’s going to increase the number of people alive with dementia more likely than not. So this idea that we don’t have to plan for services in the future because we’ll have fewer people with dementia isn’t true, the complete opposite is true, we’ll either have the same number or more.  :30

Lyketsos notes that costs for caring for those with dementia exceed a quarter of a trillion dollars. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.