Tom Murphy
RedwoodAge.com

One in eight boomers will develop deadly Alzheimer's disease, placing extraordinary financial, physical and emotional burdens on their families and society, the Alzheimer's Association reported Tuesday.

17% of women and 9% of men will develop Alzheimer's in their lives. (AS Photo)

In its annual assessment of the disease's unrelenting advance, the association said the 10 million boomer victims will represent a doubling of the number of victims today. It also projected another 4 million boomers will suffer from another type of dementia.

Publication of the report was accompanied by full-page newspaper ads that challenge the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to address the problem. The report noted the number of people dying from Alzheimer's rose 48 percent from 2000 to 2006 while the deaths from heart disease, stroke, prostate cancer and breast cancer all fell.

The report reflects mounting concerns about how society - government, business, individuals and private insurers - will cope with the costs and practical care of the nation's 78 million boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, as they reach old age.

Relatively few boomers have adequate savings and it's widely acknowledged that publicly financed systems will go broke without increased funding.

While Alzheimer's is far from the only major disability facing retirees, it is one of the most deadly and dramatic examples of the challenges ahead. Someone develops Alzheimer's every 71 seconds; there is no cure.

In Alzheimer's, protein collects around nerve endings, blocking signals. (AS Photo)

Dementia occurs when the 100 billion nerve cells in the brain begin to deteriorate and die. In Alzheimer's, it is believed that tiny bits of a protein called beta-amyloid collect at the 100 trillion nerve synapses, blocking information flow from one cell to the next.

"One in six women and one in 10 men who live to be at least age 55 will develop Alzheimer's disease in their remaining lifetime," said the study, noting that the proportion is higher among women because they tend to live longer than men.

Impact on Families
The number of deaths - 71,696 in 2005 alone - is daunting. But the report also points out the rapidly growing costs to society and pressures on the families of individuals with the disease. Even professional caregivers have reported the inability to care for their own family members.

The report notes one study found half the caregivers spent 46 hours a week caring for patients in the final year of their lives. In all, 9.8 million family members, friends and neighbors helped care for Alzheimer's patients in 2007.

"Caring for a person with Alzheimer's or another dementia is often very difficult, and many family and other unpaid caregivers experience high levels of emotional stress and depression as a result," said the report. "Caregiving also has a negative impact on the health, employment, income and financial security of many caregivers."

Businesses face annual costs of $36.5 billion related to employees who are caregivers for Alzheimer's patients, according to the association.

Medicare costs for caring for Alzheimer's patients are expected to jump to $189 billion by 2015 from $91 billion today. Additionally, Medicaid costs will rise to $27 billion by 2015 from $21 billion today. That does not include the cost of private insurance, supplemental healthcare plans or company-paid benefits.

Two-thirds of Alzheimer's patients die in nursing homes. Another 16 percent of the patients die in hospitals, with the remaining 13 percent dying at home. The average cost for nursing home care was $77,745 a year in 2007.