Alzheimer's numbers expected to balloon to 13 million by 2050 | The Excerpt
On Sunday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Close to 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s today. However, that number is expect to balloon to 13 million by 2050 which will put strains on families and the healthcare system. What can you do to prepare for a potential future with Alzheimer's? We ask Dr. Joanne Pike, CEO of the Alzheimer's Association to help explain the challenges and hopes when it comes to this debilitating disease.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Hello, and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. Today is Sunday, November 10th, 2024.
Today there are nearly 7 million people living with Alzheimer's in the US, including one in nine in the over 65 age group. By 2050, that number is expected to balloon to 13 million. What's behind this alarming rise? In recognition of National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month, we're asking what families and communities should know to adapt to this swelling high-needs population. Here to help me dig into it, I'm now joined by Dr. Joanne Pike, CEO of the Alzheimer's Association.
Joanne, thanks for joining me today on The Excerpt.
Dr. Joanne Pike:
Thank you for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So let's just start with some of the basics here at the top. Can you help us understand what Alzheimer's is and how it's really distinct from general dementia?
Dr. Joanne Pike:
Alzheimer's disease, let's just start off with the fact that it's a progressive fatal brain disease, but it's also the most common form of dementia. And sometimes people have a tendency to use those terms interchangeably; Alzheimer's and dementia. But the fact is that they are different.
Dementia is an umbrella term, it's not a specific disease, and it describes cognitive decline that's severe enough to interfere with your daily life. Whereas Alzheimer's, as I mentioned, is the most common form of dementia, but there are also other types of disease that fall into the dementia spectrum. Other causes are things like Lewy body dementia, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia.
Taylor Wilson:
So let's talk about diagnosis a little bit. How is Alzheimer's diagnosed, and really, Joanne, has anything changed with the diagnosis process or criteria over the years?
Dr. Joanne Pike:
There is, and there's actually exciting progress within diagnosis. Right now, the process for being diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another form of dementia is to go into your primary care physician. Primary care physicians may refer you to a specialist to do some additional biometric testing. So those things could be a spinal tap to test your spinal fluid. Also, a PET scan.
But some of the things that have really begun to pick up speed around diagnostics and how we can potentially expand those diagnostics into communities further is around blood. So there has been a significant amount of progress in looking at using blood tests to identify Alzheimer's, and we anticipate that that type of screening is going to become more prominent in the years to come.
Taylor Wilson:
It's a common belief that Alzheimer's is a disease that affects older people, and the evidence shows that 73% of those with the disease are age 75 and older. Joanne, are there issues or concerns about pigeonholing Alzheimer's within such a narrow age group, and just really how do you see this disease in terms of who it affects?
Dr. Joanne Pike:
I think that, to your point, we can't automatically assume that Alzheimer's or another form of dementia only occurs in seniors. I think there are things that we can be doing to really think about how do we have those conversations, if you're noticing cognitive changes, with your physician earlier than that time period. And I think it's important to recognize when a patient comes into a physician's office, physicians have a responsibility regardless of age to make sure that they're asking about those cognitive changes that someone may be experiencing.
Early detection is important from that standpoint and allows people to have those conversations to assess where they are within their brain health across their life, regardless if they're 55 and older, they're 50 and older, or 65 and older. So being able to have those conversations earlier in midlife is important to be able to set yourself up to understand what the progression of your cognitive health could be over time.
As I mentioned, early detection is important regardless if you're 65 or younger, and what that allows individuals to do is to plan. It allows people to have a conversation with their family. If they are diagnosed, then it allows them to be able to set up their own set of things that they may want to see happen within their life.
Now, the other piece though is cognitive changes don't always mean Alzheimer's or dementia. So it's important to have that conversation with your doctor to even rule out things that could be causing those cognitive changes that are not dementia-related.
Taylor Wilson:
Joanne, let's talk about potential causes, starting with genetic factors. I've had a lot of Alzheimer's in my family, as so many have. I'm curious, does that mean I'm at risk? And what's the current thinking in the Alzheimer's research community about genetic components?
Dr. Joanne Pike:
Well, genetics are certainly a risk factor that you have to consider, and having that conversation with your doctor about those factors that you may be experiencing are important. However, it's not a guarantee. Just because you have it in your family doesn't mean that you are guaranteed that you are going to get it either. So there's a balance there as well. I think the important thing to keep in mind is that age is the largest risk factor. So as we age, we do progress into a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, but there are other risk factors as well.
Traumatic brain injury. There are factors that relate to other chronic diseases. Heart health and the ability to maintain heart health is one of those things that is both risk factor but also a way you can reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's or another dementia. Diabetes is another risk factor. So these are all things that potentially you can impact, but also to keep in mind as you're having those personal health conversations with your physician.
Taylor Wilson:
We mentioned in the beginning that the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's is expected to rise to 13 million people by 2050. That's just a few decades off. Help us understand that projection, Joanne. I mean, is it that we expect people to simply live longer and therefore there's more of a chance of getting Alzheimer's? Is there something environmental here? Why are we seeing this expected rise?
Dr. Joanne Pike:
I think one of the biggest things is population. We have a baby boomer population that is in larger numbers than we have seen in generations past, and that baby boomer population is aging into this time period where they are at greater risk for developing Alzheimer's or dementia. So we know that as those baby boomers age, we are going to see year-over-year increases in the population being diagnosed.
I think one thing to keep in mind, you mentioned those numbers up front. Right now we have around 7 million Americans who are diagnosed or living with Alzheimer's. That is anticipated to grow to around 13 million by 2050. Now, having a population of this size means dollars and cost to our system and to people. Right now, Alzheimer's costs the country about 360 billion in 2024. That's what we estimate that the cost of Alzheimer's is. But by 2050, it's expected to be nearly $1 trillion, and that's cost to us as a country and to people.
Now, when a family member is diagnosed, and I think this is really important to think about from the standpoint of the impacts that families experience personally with an Alzheimer's diagnosis, the cost of caring for someone with dementia is around $400,000. That's just one person, and 70% of those costs are borne by family caregivers in the form of unpaid caregiving or other types of out-of-pocket costs. So there is a increasing number really based on generation size that we're seeing. But the other fact is that that increasing number has a financial toll on us as a country and on individuals and their families.
Taylor Wilson:
Absolutely. Those are some pretty staggering numbers and expectations there, Joanne. So really, then, what needs to change or improve societally, writ large, so Alzheimer's doesn't become such a financial burden for families and society as a whole, as you've mentioned?
Dr. Joanne Pike:
One of the biggest things that we can do is continue to invest in Alzheimer's and dementia research to really advance what we know today and get to a place where we have new and better treatments. Right now, we have a couple of FDA-approved treatments that treat the underlying biology of the disease. It's a result of the fact that we as a country have really invested over the last 40 years increasing investment within the research pipeline.
So it's great that we're seeing some of these things come to fruition, but increasing that investment and continuing the research investment that we see today is paramount to continuing to see additional advances come out of the treatment pipeline.
The other thing I was going to mention is knowing those numbers that we talked about; the scale of the burden of dementia and Alzheimer's that we're going to see into the future. We need to have a workforce that is prepared for that. That is making sure that our primary care providers and our health systems are prepared for meeting the demand that we know we're going to see.
We already know that as a country we have shortages in primary care doctors. There are not enough neurologists. There are not enough geriatricians. So we've got to think about unique ways to increase that workforce and give them the skills and knowledge to meet the demand that they're going to see in terms of interest and need in brain health information.
Taylor Wilson:
You mentioned those treatments. I want to just end refreshing us on where the science stands, Joanne, and what's next on the treatment level. Really, where do things stand? Have there been any major innovations when it comes to treatment or care in recent years, and where does research go from here?
Dr. Joanne Pike:
This is one of the more exciting times that we certainly have seen within the research, treatment, and care landscape within Alzheimer's and other dementia. We're seeing more things come out of the pipeline. There is more investment right now within the research landscape than we've seen before. And as a result of that long-term investment, we now have two FDA-approved treatments for the early stages of Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease that treat the underlying biology.
The two treatments that we have available right now are called monoclonal antibodies, and they work by taking out amyloid beta from the brain. Amyloid is part of what causes Alzheimer's disease. Now, what we're also seeing in the pipeline are things that also treat the other condition for Alzheimer's, which is tau tangles. There are also things that are targeting inflammation, gut microbiome. And ultimately, in the next decade, we will see combination therapies where we are using multiple drugs or treatments to treat multiple angles of the disease, very similar to what we see with other types of disease like cardiovascular disease.
Taylor Wilson:
Fascinating next few years and beyond. Thank you so much for coming on and giving us some insight into this terrible, terrible illness. Dr. Joanne Pike, thank you so much.
Dr. Joanne Pike:
Thank you.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alzheimer's numbers expected to hit 13 million by 2050 | The Excerpt
