Where You Live Can Shape How Alzheimer ’ s Affects You

The FDA in mid-July for the first time ever approved an Alzheimer’s drug, Leqembi. The annual price-tag will run patients $26,500. The same week, the Alzheimer’s Association for the first time ever released county-level data to identify which communities are most struggling with the disease. 6.7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease and 134,000 of them will die because of it each year. We’ve known these aggregate numbers for a while now, but with new data and new drugs, healthcare specialists can now better target attention and resources. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] More Americans will die from Alzheimer’s this year than will die from breast cancer, prostate cancer, and car accidents combined. In the next 25 years, it’s expected that the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s will double as the disease continues to grow in prevalence and as life expectancies increase.  Doctors and scientists don’t quite know all the reasons that people develop Alzheimer’s. Doctors agree that it is probably caused by some combination of age-related changes, along with genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. With new data just released, patterns of inequality are slowly emerging. The evidence is reflected in the map above. Black populations in the Mississippi delta region, elderly populations in southern Florida, Hispanic populations along the border with Mexico, and the low...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized freelance Source Type: news