From AARP
Falling Behind on Alzheimer’s Research
As research funding lags, cases are increasing — with staggering costs
by T.R. Reid, AARP Bulletin, January/February 2015
The most expensive disease in America is devouring federal and state health care budgets, and depleting the life savings of millions of victims and their families. But the greatest cost of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia is not financial, but personal. This cruel ailment steals our memories, steals our independence and finally steals our dignity by eroding the ability to manage the basic tasks of daily life.
Recent studies show that the cost of caring for Americans with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias has surpassed the cost of treatment for cancer patients or victims of heart disease. And these costs are virtually certain to go up. While the deaths from some cancers and heart disease are declining, the number of Alzheimer's cases continues to increase every year as the population grows older. "If we don't get some control over this disease," says Huntington Potter, a neurobiologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, "it's going to bankrupt both Medicare and Medicaid."
And yet Alzheimer's is an also-ran when it comes to federal funding for research on prevention and treatment. In the intense political competition for federal dollars, other diseases come out far ahead of Alzheimer's. Washington has committed some $5.4 billion this fiscal year to cancer research, about $1.2 billion to heart disease and $3 billion to research on HIV/AIDS. Research funding for Alzheimer's will reach only about $566 million.
"It's just a fact that some diseases have stronger political backing, and that leads to federal funding," says Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Aging. "If you contrast our Alzheimer's funding to the other major diseases, or compare the spending on research to the cost of care, we're not spending nearly enough to find ways to deal with this problem."
A devastating disease
The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 5.2 million Americans had Alzheimer's disease in 2014, a figure that has risen steadily over the years. Nearly two-thirds of Alzheimer's sufferers are women. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, which is a collective term for a number of conditions marked by a loss of mental abilities. Generally the disease begins near the hippocampus, the brain's memory center, and then spreads to areas of the brain that control language, judgment and physical activity.
The disease was named for a German physician, Alois Alzheimer, who presented a case study in 1906 of a female patient exhibiting loss of memory and other cognitive issues. An autopsy of her brain showed the buildup of proteins that are now known to be hallmarks of the diseases. These proteins form clumps known as "plaques," which appear to contribute to neuron death, and "tangles" of protein fiber that disrupt the neuron's transit system. Eventually communication between neurons breaks down.
Read more from AARP
Falling Behind on Alzheimer’s Research
As research funding lags, cases are increasing — with staggering costs
by T.R. Reid, AARP Bulletin, January/February 2015
The most expensive disease in America is devouring federal and state health care budgets, and depleting the life savings of millions of victims and their families. But the greatest cost of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia is not financial, but personal. This cruel ailment steals our memories, steals our independence and finally steals our dignity by eroding the ability to manage the basic tasks of daily life.
Recent studies show that the cost of caring for Americans with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias has surpassed the cost of treatment for cancer patients or victims of heart disease. And these costs are virtually certain to go up. While the deaths from some cancers and heart disease are declining, the number of Alzheimer's cases continues to increase every year as the population grows older. "If we don't get some control over this disease," says Huntington Potter, a neurobiologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, "it's going to bankrupt both Medicare and Medicaid."
And yet Alzheimer's is an also-ran when it comes to federal funding for research on prevention and treatment. In the intense political competition for federal dollars, other diseases come out far ahead of Alzheimer's. Washington has committed some $5.4 billion this fiscal year to cancer research, about $1.2 billion to heart disease and $3 billion to research on HIV/AIDS. Research funding for Alzheimer's will reach only about $566 million.
"It's just a fact that some diseases have stronger political backing, and that leads to federal funding," says Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Aging. "If you contrast our Alzheimer's funding to the other major diseases, or compare the spending on research to the cost of care, we're not spending nearly enough to find ways to deal with this problem."
A devastating disease
The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 5.2 million Americans had Alzheimer's disease in 2014, a figure that has risen steadily over the years. Nearly two-thirds of Alzheimer's sufferers are women. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, which is a collective term for a number of conditions marked by a loss of mental abilities. Generally the disease begins near the hippocampus, the brain's memory center, and then spreads to areas of the brain that control language, judgment and physical activity.
The disease was named for a German physician, Alois Alzheimer, who presented a case study in 1906 of a female patient exhibiting loss of memory and other cognitive issues. An autopsy of her brain showed the buildup of proteins that are now known to be hallmarks of the diseases. These proteins form clumps known as "plaques," which appear to contribute to neuron death, and "tangles" of protein fiber that disrupt the neuron's transit system. Eventually communication between neurons breaks down.
Read more from AARP
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