July 18, 2023 – The highest rates of Alzheimer’s disease occur within the eastern and southeastern United States, in line with a latest evaluation.
This is the primary time that the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease has been reported on the county level, the authors of the evaluation said. Topping the list were Miami-Dade County in Florida, Baltimore in Maryland, Bronx County in New York and Prince George's County in Maryland. In all of those places, a minimum of 16% of individuals aged 65 and older were estimated to have Alzheimer's, essentially the most common type of dementia.
The higher numbers will be explained by demographic aspects that were taken under consideration when calculating the figures, similar to areas with a high proportion of individuals aged 85 and over, the researchers write.
The Results were published on Monday in Alzheimer's and dementiathe journal of the Alzheimer's Association, and was also presented on the organization's annual conference going down this week in Amsterdam.
To reach their conclusions, the researchers took several steps. First, they checked out cognitive test results from one other study of greater than 10,000 people ages 65 and older living within the Chicago metropolitan area and estimated the likelihood that these people had Alzheimer's. They then checked out the estimated Alzheimer's rate amongst people within the Chicago metropolitan area based on demographic aspects similar to age, race, gender and education level. Finally, these demographic rates were combined with data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
The focus of the study was on demographic risk aspects because previous research had shown that these aspects predict the event of Alzheimer's and other dementias.
“These new estimates provide more detailed data on our understanding of Alzheimer’s prevalence across the country,” said researcher and Rush Medical College professor Kumar B. Rajan, PhD, in a opinion“This information can not only raise awareness of the Alzheimer's crisis in specific communities, but also help public health programs better allocate funding, personnel and other resources to care for people with Alzheimer's and other dementias.”
The researchers looked not only at places based on the proportion of Alzheimer's patients, but additionally which counties had essentially the most individuals with the disease. They estimated that Los Angeles County in California, Cook County in Illinois, Maricopa County in Arizona and Miami-Dade County topped the list.