Alzheimer’s experts: Big numbers behind the disease

Contact: Zen Vuong at (213) 740-2215 or uscnews@usc.edu

Alzheimer’s is an insidious disease: By the time symptoms appear, the affliction has already issued a death sentence that is carried out in stages.

The disease takes a high emotional and financial toll. Health care, long-term care and hospice services for people with dementia who are 65 or older will total $236 billion in 2016, estimated the Alzheimer’s Association.

USC has more than 55 researchers working to demystify Alzheimer’s disease and find ways to prevent, treat and cure it. In addition to internationally-recognized scientists scouring multiple paths to find ground zero of the disease, some USC experts are hard at work deciphering what it means to society and families when more than 5 million Americans live with this age-related malady.

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How delaying Alzheimer’s by five years would change things

“If we could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms by just five years, we would cut the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease by half. The socioeconomic impact of this reduction cannot be over overstated. We seek persons at increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease, who have subtle or mild memory impairment, to participate in research studies, including scientific trials of promising therapies.”

Helena Chang Chui is chair of the department of neurology at Keck Medicine of USC and professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She is internationally recognized for her research in Alzheimer’s disease and vascular cognitive impairment. Chui is the principal investigator for the USC Alzheimer Disease Research Center and a multi-institutional project on vascular dementia.

The Alzheimer Disease Research Center specializes in understanding the role of genetics, diabetes and the blood-brain-barrier in Alzheimer’s disease and has been funded by the National Institute on Aging for 32 years.

Contact: Cynthia Smith at (323) 865-7882 or cynthia.smith@med.usc.edu

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Delaying Alzheimer’s for just one year can save $160 billion later

“Even delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for just one year now is estimated to result in 20 percent lower prevalence of the disease in 2050, saving $160 billion in health care costs and about one billion hours of care by family members.

“Multiple therapies for widespread conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high levels of fat particles in the blood have been associated with increasing or decreasing Alzheimer’s disease risk. Identifying what drugs influence Alzheimer’s disease risk for which populations may be an effective near-term strategy for slowing Alzheimer’s disease progression and delaying its onset.”

Julie Zissimopoulos is associate director of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, which is one of the nation’s premier health policy research institutions, and an assistant professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy. She specializes in the economics of aging. Her team combines data from surveys, medical claims records and genetic data with statistical and econometric methods to identify and analyze treatments that delay and treat Alzheimer’s disease.

Contact: (213) 821-7947 or zissimop@usc.edu

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Latinos are more at-risk for Alzheimer’s

“If we don’t find a cure for Alzheimer’s or a way to slow the disease’s progression in the coming decades, Latino families in the United States will face a serious public health crisis.

“We just released a report that projects Latinos living with Alzheimer’s will increase from 379,000 in 2012 to 1.1 million by 2030 and to 3.5 million by 2060 — a dramatic growth of 832 percent. Even more concerning is that Latinos are 50 percent more likely to get Alzheimer’s than whites, yet they are less likely to receive a diagnosis from a physician. Plus, their participation in clinical trials is extremely low at about one percent.

“We can’t overlook the economic impact of the disease either: The cumulative direct and indirect costs of Alzheimer’s disease on the U.S. Latino community will cost the U.S. economy $373 billion by 2030 and $2.35 trillion (in 2012 dollars) by 2060.”

William Vega is executive director of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging and a provost professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.

Contact: (213) 740-1887 or williaav@usc.edu

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Downward trend in dementia and Alzheimer’s

“Dementia or Alzheimer’s is on the decline for elderly Americans. In the past decade, more people over the age of 65 have been identified as cognitively healthy. In fact, cognitively intact years at age 65 increased by more than 1.5 years between 2000 and 2010. This suggests that people are living longer without Alzheimer’s — which is very positive news.”

Eileen Crimmins is an AARP professor of gerontology and a University Professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She is director of The Biomarker Network, which is dedicated to better ways of measuring biological risk among the elderly. She is also director of the USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health, which aids in the understanding of demographic trends and population health.

Contact: crimmin@usc.edu

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USC and Alzheimer’s disease research: USC researchers in multiple disciplines are seeking to untangle intractable diseases and conditions attached to aging, including Alzheimer’s and dementia. One in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. Alzheimer’s is the only disease among the top 10 in America that cannot be prevented, cured or slowed.

Efforts to understand Alzheimer’s and dementia and to find preventive interventions and precise treatments are much more pressing as the baby boomer generation ages. The USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics predicts the number of U.S. patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s will more than double to 9.1 million in the next 35 years.

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