Alzheimer’s disease is most prevalent in the eastern and south-eastern US, but the highest total number of patients is in California, according to a first-of-its-kind study released on Monday.
New county-by-county data released at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) showed that those regions’ large populations of older people as well as Black and Hispanic residents may explain the new study’s data.
Researchers found that for counties with a population of 10,000 or more aged 65 or older, Alzheimer’s rates were highest in Miami-Dade county, Florida; Baltimore city, Maryland; Bronx county in New York, where about one in six seniors have the disease; parts of Washington DC; Hinds county in Mississippi; and the city of New Orleans.
While age is recognized as the primary risk-factor for Alzheimer’s, the AAIC found that older Black Americans are about twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older white Americans. Older Hispanic people are about one and one-half times as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older whites.
According to the report, people ages 75 to 79 were about three times more likely to have the disease than those ages 65 to 69, and rates were about 15 times higher among those age 85 and up.
“These new estimates add more granular data to our understanding of Alzheimer’s prevalence across the country,” said study co-author Kumar Rajan, a professor at Rush medical college in Chicago.
The study, which used cognitive data and population estimates to arrive at the findings, is the first to examine the prevalence of the brain degenerative disease by county. Rajan said he hoped the information would raise awareness of an Alzheimer’s crisis in specific communities.
An estimated 6.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the AAIC. California’s Imperial county already has the largest number of patients, with a rate of 15%. Population projections indicate that the west and south-west regions of the US are likely to experience the largest increase in patients over the coming years.
“As the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease increases, so does the need for a larger workforce that is trained in diagnosing, treating and caring for those living with the disease,” said the AAIC’s vice-president of health policy, Matthew Baumgart.
But the study may also underestimate Alzheimer’s prevalence, with some experts warning that as many as half the number of people with Alzheimer’s are undiagnosed.
