The number of U.S. adults with dementia is expected to double, from 514,000 in 2020 to 1 million in 2060, according to a study published Jan. 13 in Nature Medicine.
Here are four things to know from the study:
- Researchers from Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, New York City-based NYU Langone, Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and other U.S. academic institutions used data from the ongoing Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study to estimate lifetime dementia risk and U.S. Census Bureau projections to estimate dementia prevalence.
- The lifetime risk of U.S. adults after age 55 is 42%. Rates varied between 35% for men, to between 45% and 60% for women, Black adults and carriers of an APOE4 gene variant.
The increased risk for women, compared to men, can be attributed to women's lower rates of death and longer average length of life, according to a Jan. 13 news release from NYU Langone. - Researchers also found that the lifetime risk of dementia increases above 50% after age 75.
- While overall dementia cases are expected to double by 2060, the number is expected to triple for Black adults, the release said.
Read the full study here.