East and Southeast US states have the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s dementia, according to the first county-level study of disease occurrence.
Researchers from Rush University Medical Center released their findings Monday during the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Amsterdam and simultaneously published them in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Using cognitive data from the Chicago Health and Aging Project, as well as population estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, the researchers noted that a combination of specific demographic characteristics — including older average age and higher percentages of Black and Hispanic residents — could explain the higher prevalence of Alzheimer’s dementia in certain counties.
“Alzheimer’s prevalence estimates can help federal and state public health officials determine the burden on the healthcare system, and county-level estimates help us better understand and pinpoint areas of high risk and high need — where, for example, culturally sensitive health support and caregiver training services are needed,” Alzheimer’s Association Vice President of Health Policy Matthew Baumgart said in a statement. “As the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease increases, so does the need for a larger workforce that is trained in diagnosing, treating and caring for those living with the disease.”
An estimated 6.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, which projects that the West and Southwest regions of the nation will experience the largest percentage increase in people living with the disease between 2020 and 2025. About a third of assisted living residents have diagnoses of Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, according to the NCHS.
Age is a primary risk factor for the disease, according to the association, and older Black Americans are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia compared with their white counterparts. Older Hispanic individuals are about one and a half times as likely to develop the disease compared with white older adults.
For counties with populations of 10,000 or more adults aged 65 or more years, the Rush researchers estimate that the highest Alzheimer’s prevalence rates are in Miami-Dade County, FL, Baltimore City, MD, and Bronx County, NY (all 16.6%); Prince George’s County, MD (16.1%); Hinds County, MS (15.5%); Orleans Parish, LA (15.4%); Dougherty County, GA (15.3%) Orangeburg County, SC (15.2%); and Imperial County, CA, and El Paso County, TX (both 15%).
“This information, in addition to raising awareness of the Alzheimer’s crisis in specific communities, may help public health programs better allocate funding, staffing and other resources for caring for people with Alzheimer’s and all other dementia,” Kumar B. Rajan, PhD, a Rush Medical College professor, said in a statement.
Alzheimer’s is a “multifactorial disease” involving several risk characteristics that interact with demographic risk factors and ultimately contribute to the prevalence of disease, he added.
