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Fast Facts
- 15% of the US population is 65 or older.
- Adjusting for age, rates of Alzheimer’s disease deaths increased more than 50% between 1999 and 2014. Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death among all US adults.
- Americans fear losing their mental capabilities twice as much as they fear losing their physical abilities.
- In 2018, total payments for health care, long-term care, and hospice for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias are estimated to be $277 billion.
- In 2018, more than an estimated 16 million Americans are providing more than 18.4 billion hours of unpaid care for family and friends with Alzheimer’s other dementias. The total value of that care is about $232 billion.
Updated Data Portal Provides Better Access to Aging Data
CDC’s updated Healthy Aging Data Portalprovides easy access to CDC data on key indicators of cognitive and physical health and well-being, caregiving, screenings and vaccinations, and mental health for older adults.
The Portal allows public health professionals and policy makers to get national, regional, and state data for chronic diseases and risk factors that have a substantial impact on public health. This information is essential for conducting surveillance, setting priorities, and evaluating public health interventions. It can also support:
- Grant writing: The Portal offers context and key statistics for the health of older adults at the national, regional, and state levels, which can justify the need for proposed programs.
- Program and strategic planning: State and local data can be used to identify areas of need and direct resources to the most urgent health issues.
Healthy Brain Initiative and Public Health Road Map
The Healthy Brain Initiative improves understanding of cognitive aging as a central part of public health practice. The initiative creates and supports partnerships, collects and reports data, increases awareness of cognitive aging, and promotes the use of The Healthy Brain Initiative: The Public Health Road Map for State and National Partnerships, 2013–2018[PDF – 2.2 MB].
The Road Map lists 35 actions to promote cognitive health and address cognitive impairment and the needs of caregivers, including:
- Measuring the cost to states and communities.
- Developing questions for national surveys, which can provide state data.
- Increasing public awareness of dementias in ways that make sense to different cultures.
An Interim Progress Report[PDF – 1.7 MB] highlights the Healthy Brain Initiative’s accomplishments from 2013 to 2015.
The Road Map is currently being revised. New action items will be released in 2018, with an emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, diagnosis disclosure, risk reduction, and caregiving.
CDC’s funded partners, the Alzheimer’s Association and The Balm in Gilead, work to accomplish the Road Map’s action items. The Alzheimer’s Association tracks cognitive decline and caregiving and helps state public health agencies develop Alzheimer’s plans. The Balm in Gilead trains African American health professionals to recognize the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s and raises awareness of the disease through faith-based communities.
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