How common is Alzheimers disease (AD) today, and are we seeing more of this disease now than we used to 25 years ago?
About 10% of people in the U.S. who are over age 65 have some symptoms of AD according to recent statistics; about 47% of people between the ages of 80-100 have some levels of AD. Younger people may also get Alzheimer’s disease, even in their 40s or 50s; these age groups are at much lower risk. We think these proportions are about the same as they have always been; however we now recognize AD as a specific illness and identify the disease earlier. We read and hear much more about this disease thanks to public awareness, education and mass media attention that has helped families understand it better. How did the disease get the name “Alzheimer’s”? Alzheimer’s disease is the name of an organic, neurological brain disease, causing dementia. It is named after the physician Alois Alzheimer, who discovered the disease during autopsy study of the brain of a 52-year-old woman in 1906. Alzheimer’s disease causes the symptoms of dementia which progressively get worse over time. Do men and women
