A new study estimates new dementia cases to sit around one million annually by 2060, doubling current numbers.
The study of more than 15,000 people was conducted and published in Nature Medicine and included researchers from Mayo Clinic, New York University and Johns Hopkins University.
The report found a 42% risk of developing dementia after age 55 in the US, an increase from prior studies.
Dr. Parichita Choudhury with the Banner Sun Health Research Institute said old age is one of many factors contributing to the staggering numbers.
“Our lifestyles are very much driven by unhealthy cardiovascular risk factors, so those are significantly adding to our risks for cognitive dementia overall,” Choudhury said.
The study also found an even higher risk for black adults.
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“Speaking to sort of racial disparities and healthcare disparities in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders,” Choudhury said. “Everybody thinks about brain health as not an afterthought but really the tsunami is here and how do we really make an effort to start changing the direction of the wind.”
The new information underscores what’s already been an alarming trend of rising Alzheimer’s cases in Arizona, as the state leads the country for the disease’s growth rate, according to the Arizona Alzheimer’s Association.
Leonard Chayrez lives in Phoenix and was diagnosed in his 50’s with Alzheimer’s Disease.
“The reality of it came and hit me really hard,” Chayrez said. “I’m really grateful to Mark because it’s a journey that we’re taking together.”
He and his partner Mark Garrity are advocating for families like theirs to have access to early diagnosis and treatment, as well as trying to break down stigmas over talking about dementia-related diseases.
“It took another three and a half years to finally get a mild cognitive impairment diagnosis because he was young and doctors, PAs, a neurologist all thought it was stress,” Garrity said. “It’s really a policy thing and it needs to start locally at the city level, at the state level and at the federal level.”
