Alzheimer’s diseasewould be responsible for a greater number of deaths than the figures of the official American statistics according to the conclusions of a scientific investigation published in the specialized journal Neurology.
Alzheimer’s neurodegenerative disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, while cardiovascular disease and cancer are the most common causes of death, according to figures from the Federal Centers for Control and Disease Prevention (CDC) based on death certificates.
“Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia often don’t show up on death certificates and medical records,” says Dr. Bryan James, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “These documents most commonly list the direct and immediate cause of death as pneumonia rather than listing dementia as an underlying cause. It is difficult to pinpoint a single cause of death in most older people when multiple health conditions are usually responsible,” adds Dr James.
Alzheimer’s disease kills 5 times more
For this study, this researcher wanted to analyze more precisely the causes of death of American elderly people. It followed 2,566 adults over the age of 65 who underwent an annual test to determine whether or not they had dementia. After eight years, 1,090 participants have died. 559 of them, who did not have dementia at the start of the study, developed Alzheimer’s disease. After their death, the disease was confirmed by autopsy for about 90% of people.
“Estimates produced by our analysis of medical records suggest that deaths resulting from Alzheimer’s disease greatly exceed CDC figures reflected in death certificates,” Dr. James said. “Our projected study reveals an estimated 503,400 deaths from Alzheimer’s in the US population over 75 in 2010, which is five to six times higher than the 83,494 deaths recorded by the CDC. »
“Determining the true impact of Alzheimer’s disease in this country is important for alerting the public and identifying research priorities to combat this epidemic concludes this researcher.
