This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive impairment

Just more than 6 million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer’s Disease or mild cognitive impairment and these totals are expected to climb to 15 million by 2060, according to a new forecast published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Researchers developed a multistate model incorporating preclinical biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to determine the prevalence of preclinical and clinical AD and the effects of primary and secondary prevention interventions in the United States.

Data from the model showed that clinical AD or mild cognitive impairment due to AD was prevalent in about 6.08 million adults in the United States in 2017. This number will rise to 15 million by 2060, according to the researchers.

In 2017, preclinical AD, defined as the presence of amyloidosis, neurodegeneration or both, was prevalent in 46.7 million adults in the United States. The researchers noted that many of these individuals may not progress to clinical disease.

Although primary preventions have the most potential for decreasing the prevalence of AD, their benefits would not be wholly achieved for decades due to the long preclinical phase, according to the researchers.

“Because large numbers of persons are currently living with preclinical disease, our results highlight the public health importance of the development of secondary interventions targeted at persons most likely to progress to clinical disease during their lifetimes, the need for improved diagnostics for identifying such persons, as well as development of primary interventions for persons who do not yet have any AD brain pathology,” Ron Brookmeyer, PhD, lead author, from the department of biostatistics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues concluded. – by Alaina Tedesco

Disclosure: Brookmeyer reports receiving fees from Takeda Inc. All other authors report no relevant financial disclosures.