tecdec

The forecast is based on a lot of supposition as well as some hard data, but it’s the best estimate of how badly Alzheimer’s will affect the country in the coming years, said Keith Fargo of the Alzheimer’s Association, who was not involved in the research. For the unusual study, Ron Brookmeyer, a biostatistician at the University of California, Los Angeles and colleagues collected all the data they could find from studies of Alzheimer’s disease. To calculate who was at risk of Alzheimer’s they used measures including a build-up of a protein in the brain called amyloid, the loss of brain cells, and the loss of memory and skills such as reading and writing. Close to 50 million Americans could be in the early stages leading to Alzheimer’s disease right now, according to a new forecast. And 6 million people likely have it now, the team at the University of California Los Angeles calculated. They used other studies including a look at 1,500 volunteers who live arou...