The recently released Alzheimer’s Association’s 2014 Facts and Figures report revealed that, by comprising the majority of both patients and caregivers, women are disproportionally effected by Alzheimer’s disease. One in six women over 65, compared with one in eleven men, will develop Alzheimer’s in their lifetime. Additionally, women are 2.5 time more likely to take on the emotional and fiscal burden of being the primary care giver of a person with Alzheimer’s disease.
As the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, all people are at risk of being effected by Alzheimer’s disease, especially as we age.
The scientists and researchers funded by AFAR understand that aging is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Since 1981, AFAR has awarded over $21.2 million to 216 scientist researching Alzheimer’s disease, through programs like our New Investigators in Alzheimer’s Disease grants, which provide $100,000 awards to promising researchers in the United States and Israel. AFAR, also administers $500,000 in yearly funding for Alzheimer’s research though the MetLife Foundations Awards for Medical Research program, celebrating breakthrough research around the world.
For an in-depth introduction into the causes behind Alzheimer’s and lifestyle changes that you can take to reduce your risks, download our Infoaging Guide to Alzheimer’s Disease or let AFAR grantee, Malaz Boustani, MD, MPA answer your questions in his Ask the Expert interview on Aging and Alzheimer’s.
