by Medical XPress:

Elderly patients who receive anesthesia are no more likely to develop long-term dementia or Alzheimer’s disease than other seniors, according to new Mayo Clinic research.

The study analyzed thousands of patients using the Rochester Epidemiology Project—which allows researchers access to medical records of nearly all residents of Olmsted County, Minn.—and found that receiving general anesthesia for procedures after age 45 is not a risk factor for developing dementia. The findings were published Wednesday, May 1, online in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

by Gina Kolata for The New York Times:

African-Americans have a slightly higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease than people of largely European ancestry, but there is no major genetic difference that could account for the slight excess risk, new research shows.

The results are from one of the only large studies ever done on Alzheimer’s in African-Americans. Researchers identified the same gene variants in older African-Americans that they had found in older people of European ancestry. But they found that African-Americans with Alzheimer’s disease were slightly more likely to have one gene, ABCA7, that is thought to confer risk for the disease.

Another gene, APoE4, long known to increase Alzheimer’s risk in older white people, was present in about the same proportion of African-Americans with Alzheimer’s as it is in people of European ancestry.

The researchers’ paper was published online on Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Robert L. Nussbaum of the University of California, San Francisco, noted that finding ABCA7 and APoE4 in African-Americans as well as those of European ancestry “strengthens the case” that the genes are important in conferring susceptibility to the disease.

by Ashley Zilka for Rochester Homepage:

Having a loved one with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or dementia is very difficult. It can take a toll on your family, but it can also take a toll on your wallet.

We are talking big numbers. A study found it costs society about $50,000 for every person who has dementia. As baby boomers age, spending for their care will increase dramatically. Frederick and Mildred Halik have been married for 66 years. Several years ago Mildred was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Both of their lives forever changed.

“How to carry through normal everyday things that everybody can do automatically. In her case, it’s just slowly disappearing,” Frederick said.

The Haliks are not alone. About 5.2 million Americans have the disease, the most common form of dementia. Locally, that number is in the tens of thousands. Even more shocking is that a new study released Wednesday found it can cost up to $56,000 each year for every person who has dementia. That is higher than the cost of cancer care.

by Paul Briand for Examiner:

The new report about Alzheimer’s in America was distressing enough: One in three senior citizens die from Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia.

But the data from the Alzheimer’s Association’s “2013 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures” contains information about Baby Boomers as their significant numbers progress into the age of vulnerability for the disease: 65 and older.

Right now, the leading age of Baby Boomers is turning 65; the first Boomers started turning 65 in 2011. By the year 2025, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, the number of people – many of them Boomers – with the disease is estimated to reach 7.1 million.

That’s a 40 percent increase from from the 5 million aged 65 and older who are currently afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Just the sheer number of Baby Boomers will increase the afflicted, raising the spectre that the Baby Boomer Generation could become the Alzheimer’s Generation.

by Janice Lloyd for USA Today:

A new report showing one in three older adults dies with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia is raising concerns about the disease’s “pervasive” scope and the spiraling costs of care, the authors say.

Deaths from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia have increased 68% from 2000 to 2010, according to the report being released today by the Alzheimer’s Association, an advocacy group. Meanwhile, deaths from heart disease, HIV/AIDS and stroke have declined. The numbers are taken from Medicare and Medicaid reports.

“Urgent, meaningful action is needed, particularly as more and more people age into greater risk for developing the disease,” says Harry Johns, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association.

by Jenny Hope for The Daily Mail:

Alzheimer’s disease is now one of the leading causes of death in the UK, a major study has found.

The disease shot up from the 24th most common cause to the 10th between 1990 and 2010, figures show. And it continues to be one of the fastest-rising causes of death in this country.

The study, published in the Lancet, is an analysis of worldwide data from late last year and shows how the UK is performing compared to 14 other European countries, Australia, Canada, Norway and the US.

The proportion of deaths attributed to Alzheimer’s has more than doubled in 20 years, although heart disease remains the most common cause of death.

by Maggie Fox for NBC News:

Alzheimer’s disease is the fastest growing threat to health in the United States, but Americans are still most likely to die from diseases caused by their own habits such as overeating and tobacco, according to a new report on global death and disease.

In contrast, AIDS and alcohol are the biggest health threats among Russians, malnutrition threatens children in Africa and Afghanistan and violence is taking the lives of many young men across much of Latin America.

The team at the University of Washington in Seattle looked at thousands of sources of data, from individual death certificates to global surveys on illness, for their report. It compares various causes of death and diseases across 187 countries.

by Sarah Stevenson for A Place For Mom:

Researchers learn more and more about Alzheimer’s every year, and some of the statistics are staggering indeed.

1. Nearly half of adults aged 85 and over have Alzheimer’s disease.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2012 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report, an estimated 45% of American seniors 85 and older suffer from Alzheimer’s, and one in eight people aged 65 and over (13%) has Alzheimer’s disease.  It is the most common cause of dementia among older adults.

2. Out of approximately 5.4 million Americans with Alzheimer’s, more than half may not know they have it.

by Janice Lloyd for USA Today:

Concerns are increasing over the nation’s ability to afford Alzheimer’s care and support systems.

New reports that the number of Alzheimer’s cases in the USA will likely triple to 13.8 million by 2050 are raising concerns about the nation’s ability to afford care.

Care for patients with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia will increase 500% by 2050, reaching $1.1 trillion, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. This is in 2012 dollars. About 70% of costs for Alzheimer’s care are billed to Medicare and Medicaid.​​

Patients with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia will spend three times more on health care than patients with other types of illnesses, the association says. Medicare patients with Alzheimer’s and other dementias spent $43,847 on health care and long-term care services, compared to $13,879 spent by patients without those illnesses, the association said in a 2012 report.

For government health care programs already facing economic strain, these estimates are daunting, researchers and advocates say.

by Janice Lloyd for USA Today:

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.”