In its new 2015 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report, the Alzheimer’s Association explored how healthcare providers disclose an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
45 percent of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or their caregivers say they were told the diagnosis. In contrast, more than 90 percent of people with the four most common cancers (breast, colorectal, lung and prostate cancer) or their caregivers say they were told their diagnosis.
Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, the fifth-leading cause of death for those age 65 and older and the 3rd leading cause of death in Washington State. It is the only cause of death in the top 10 in America that cannot be prevented, cured or slowed. 
Alzheimer’s is the most expensive disease in the nation. According to the Facts and Figures report, Alzheimer’s and other dementias cost the country $226 billion this year and are projected to increase to more than $1.1 trillion in 2050.
Learn more and share the facts at alz.org/facts.
Reblogged this on Baby Boomers and More and commented:
If Alzheimer’s was any other disease, it would be considered an epidemic. Its prevalence is pervasive, its outcome, always fatal. Maybe if it qualified as an epidemic, people would stand up and take notice. Everyone has a brain. Everyone is at risk for Alzheimer’s.