Rates of dementia and Alzheimer's should double by 2060 – Quartz

This week, researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published an article on projected dementia rates across the country. Currently, 1.6% of the population, about 5 million people, suffer from Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. According to data from the US Census Bureau and Medicare, the CDC estimates that these numbers will reach 3.3% of the population, or 13.9 million people by 2060.

These forecasts are largely due to the aging of the American population as a whole; By 2035, there will be more people over 65 than children under 18 years old.

People of color will represent a much larger percentage of the total population aged 65 and over. The authors of the article write that in 2014, only 22% of this age group were minorities. By 2060, they should represent 45% of all over 65s. While the number of white people with dementia will double at about the same time, the increase for people of color will be six or seven times. In fact, the total number of people with dementia today is lower than the expected number of black and Hispanic people with dementia by 2060.

Age is the primary risk factor for developing dementia, but race can also play a role. Black people aged 65 and over have the highest rates of dementia at 13.8%. The rate for Hispanics of the same age is 12.2% and for whites it is about 10%. Rates of dementia among Amerindians and Asians and inhabitants of the Pacific Islands are 9.1% and 8.4%, respectively.

People of color already face unique challenges in the American health care system; Minorities in the United States tend to receive poorer health care than whites. As the proportion of people of color in the elderly community increases, the demand for geriatric-trained physicians among the different ethnic groups will be even greater.