Alzheimer’s disease is a frightening illness. It is incurable, and it slowly, gradually, and unstoppably ravages a patient’s ability to communicate, remember events, function in society, or simply make sound judgments. As a result, the patient will be dependent on loved ones to gradually take care of her or him, and eventually a long term care facility with a trained staff may oversee the care of the individual until the end of life is reached.

Statistics about this illness abound. Here are but a few from the United States:

In the August 2003 issue of the Archives of Neurology it was estimated that more than 4.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, this number is said to have doubled since the year 1980.

A 1992 Gallup survey of 1,015 Americans revealed that one in ten had an immediate family member who suffers from the disease while at least one in three had a friend or acquaintance that has this illness.

In 1989, the Annals of Neurology reported that it is not unheard of for individuals in their late thirties or early forties to be affected by this disease in the form of an inherited kind of Alzheimer’s disease.

In 1989, JAMA advised that one in ten Americans over the age of sixty-five, and at least half of Americans aged eighty-five and older were affected by the disease.

These are sobering statistics indeed, yet one wonders how they compare around the world. The United States Census Bureau has released its 2004 research figures, and according to their data, Alzheimer’s disease is in rapid progression throughout the world.

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