“This article describes the public health impact of Alzheimer’s disease, including prevalence and incidence, mortality and morbidity, use and costs of care, and the overall impact on family caregivers, the dementia workforce and society. The Special Report examines the patient journey from awareness of cognitive changes to potential treatment with drugs that change the underlying biology of Alzheimer’s. An estimated 6.7 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia today. This number could grow to 13.8 million by 2060 barring the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent, slow or cure AD. Official death certificates recorded 121,499 deaths from AD in 2019, and Alzheimer’s disease was officially listed as the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. In 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 entered the ranks of the top ten causes of death, Alzheimer’s was the seventh-leading cause of death. Alzheimer’s remains the fifth-leading cause of death among Americans age 65 and older. Between 2000 and 2019, deaths from stroke, heart disease and HIV decreased, whereas reported deaths from AD increased more than 145%. This trajectory of deaths from AD was likely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. More than 11 million family members and other unpaid caregivers provided an estimated 18 billion hours of care to people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias in 2022. ”
Alzheimer’s Association(https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.13016)
2-“Despite decades of declines, stroke remains one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., accounting for 1 in 6 deaths from cardiovascular disease in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the American Heart Association, a stroke occurs when a blood vessel carrying oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or ruptures. Each year, research cited by the CDC says, some 795,000 people have a stroke in the U.S. About 610,000 of these incidents are first strokes, while about 1 in 4 occur in people who have had a previous event.”
U.S. News and World Report (https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/slideshows/stroke-death-rates-are-highest-in-these-states)
3-“Injuries and violence affect everyone, regardless of age, race, or economic status. In the first half of life, more Americans die from injuries and violence — such as MV crashes, suicide, or homicides — than from any other cause, including CA, HIV, or the flu. This makes injury the leading cause of death among persons aged 1-44.
- Unintentional injuries include opioid overdoses (unintentional poisoning), motor vehicle (MV) crashes, and unintentional falls.
- Suicide is now the 2nd leading cause of death for this 1-44 age group, and numbers of suicides continue to rise.
- Homicide remains in the top 5 leading causes of death for the 1-44 age group.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/animated-leading-causes.html)