Alzheimer's May Kill Far More Americans Than Thought | WPN World People News

The number of lives lost to Alzheimer's disease each year may be far more than thought, and it might rival heart disease and cancer as one of the top killers of Americans, new research suggests.

Combing through data on nearly 2,600 older adults, scientists from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago estimated that more than one-third of all deaths in people aged 75 and older were attributable to Alzheimer's, and the death toll from the incurable brain disease exceeds statistics gleaned from death certificates.

Alzheimer's disease affects an estimated 5 million Americans over age 65, and currently ranks as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Although official statistics blame Alzheimer's for about 85,000 deaths each year, the study estimated the true toll to be closer to 500,000.

A lot of people don't recognize that Alzheimer's is a fatal disease. They think people suffering from Alzheimer's eventually succumb to old age. People don't understand that Alzheimer's eventually hits the part of the brain controlling breathing and heart rate, shutting your brain down. This is another bullet in our gun saying this is a terrible disease.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, destroying memory, judgment and thinking skills, and eventually leaving victims unable to care for themselves. Symptoms typically begin after age 60, and the risk for developing the disease rises with advancing age, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The researchers analyzed data from two ongoing aging studies, following nearly 2,600 participants (average age 78) whose brain function was deemed normal at the start of the research.

Over the eight years of the studies, 22 percent of participants eventually developed dementia and 72 percent of those patients died, compared to 34 percent of those who remained dementia-free.

The researchers concluded that Alzheimer's and other dementias are under-reported on death certificates, mainly because these documents list an immediate cause of death, such as pneumonia, that was brought on by Alzheimer's.

The new findings should change public perception of the importance of combating Alzheimer's, which is projected to affect nearly 14 million people in the United States by 2050. Although death rates from heart disease and cancer are dropping because of the advent of more effective therapies, James said, the same isn't true for Alzheimer's. It can't currently be slowed or stopped with any treatment.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services