New Report Says Alzheimer’s ‘Epidemic’ Could Hit U.S. by 2050

A new government-funded report confirms what advocacy groups have been warning for years: The number of people in the U.S. with Alzheimer’s disease — which robs people of their memory, erases personality, and makes even routine tasks like dressing and bathing impossible — will almost triple by 2050, straining the health-care system and taxing the health of caregivers. Numbers are projected to rise from about five million now to 13.8 million.

“We’re going to need coordinated efforts for this upcoming epidemic,” says lead author Jennifer Weuve, assistant professor of medicine at Rush Institute for Healthy Aging in Chicago. “People have trouble getting their heads around these numbers, but imagine if everyone in the state of Illinois (population 12.8 million) had Alzheimer’s. I look around Chicago and can’t imagine it.” For more information, click here to read the full article in USA Today.