Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, and the number of cases is expected to balloon as people live longer: Today 5.1 million people 65 and older have it. By 2025, the number will rise to 7.1 million, a nearly 40 percent increase, the Alzheimer's Association estimates. The projections have sounded an alarm amid a tightening federal budget and concerns that there won't be enough nursing facilities to take care of patients. Researchers and health policy experts are meeting in Washington this week at a major conference looking at the impact of the disease and efforts to combat it.
Dr. Maria Carrillo, chief scientific officer at the Alzheimer's Association, which paid for the research on Medicare projections that was released Monday at the conference, talked with Kaiser Health News staff writer Lisa Gillespie about what the growth of Alzheimer's will mean for the nation. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The federal government is making investments in research today — $350 million has been included in an appropriations bill for the fall, and if it's approved, it will improve NIH research dollars for Alzheimer's by 50 percent. We'd also like to see things like saliva and blood screening tests that could be done in our primary care physician offices. It's the first place where a loved one would go [if they started having symptoms]. If they could have something quick and dirty, like a finger prick that says things aren't right, we could pass the patient on to do more extensive testing.
We used to think it was just Diabetes Type 1 that led to Alzheimer's but we're seeing that it's also Diabetes Type 2. The longer you live with diabetes, the greater risk you have. There's a an 80 percent increase [in the likelihood of getting] dementia, so we need to figure out what it is about Type 1 and 2 that makes them more vulnerable to cognitive decline.
My father-in-law has vascular dementia, and my mother-in-law has Alzheimer's – both need 24-hour care. My father-in-law has had a slow decline over five years – he'll be stable for a year and then his health will drop, usually spurred by a physical event like a stroke. He is mainly disoriented, but remembers who we are and how to do daily tasks.
My mother-in-law has a had a continuous and quick decline in a few years: she doesn't recognize family, she's forgotten how to get into a car – standing, turning and sitting down, so she crawls.
You can't leave a loved one like this with a caregiver all the time, so my husband, sibling and I take turns being there, and we pay for the care out-of-pocket, which not everyone can do. My mother-in-law has forgotten how to walk, and she needs to be carried everywhere. She doesn't recognize us or her grandchildren, and she has to be cared for like an infant, it's a low quality of life.