A study released Monday shows that cases of Alzheimer’s disease appear to be most prevalent in the East and Southeastern United States, while news of a global drug trial released at the same conference could give hope to millions in the early stages of its grip.
The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) released the study showing the prevalence of the disease in certain counties in the U.S., saying the numbers could come not only from larger populations of older people in the regions but also from large Black and Hispanic populations in those areas.
Alzheimer's among seniors is most common in these parts of the US, first-of-its-kind data shows https://t.co/30hvdWc1Mn pic.twitter.com/O8vZcLRAvw
— CNN (@CNN) July 17, 2023
U.S. states with the highest number of people with Alzheimer’s were California, Florida and Texas. For counties with a population of 10,000 or more individuals who are age 65 or older, the study estimates the highest Alzheimer’s prevalence rates are in:
- Miami-Dade County, Florida (16.6%)
- Baltimore City, Maryland (16.6%)
- Bronx County, New York (16.6%)
- Prince George’s County, Maryland (16.1%)
- Hinds County, Mississippi (15.5%)
- Orleans Parish, Louisiana (15.4%)
- Dougherty County, Georgia (15.3%)
- Orangeburg County, South Carolina (15.2%)
- Imperial County, California (15.0%)
- El Paso County, Texas (15.0%)
According to the report, people ages 75 to 79 were about three times more likely to have the disease than those ages 65 to 69. For those 85 and up, the rates of the diseases are about 15 times higher.
While age is the primary risk factor in developing Alzheimer’s, according to the report, older Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as older white people, and older Hispanic people are one-and-a-half times more likely to develop the disease than their white counterparts.
The study is the first published that looks at cases of Alzheimer’s county-by-county in the U.S. An estimated 6.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the AAIC.
At the same conference, the results of a trial of the new drug donanemab were being called a “turning point” in the fight against Alzheimer’s.
A global drug trial showed that the antibody medicine was effective in the early stages of the disease, slowing its pace of progression by about a third. According to Eli Lily, the company that makes the drug, it works by clearing a protein that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.
The drug does not appear to help other types of dementia, according to the company, and it is not known if the drug would continue, year after year, to keep the brain clear of the protein.
According to Lilly, another trial is ongoing in patients who do not yet have symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in order to see if the success of donanemab could be even more far-reaching. Dr. Daniel Skovronsky, Lily’s chief of research, told CNN that the results give him more confidence that the drug will succeed in slowing the progression of the disease on a long-term basis.
“If this trial could slow disease progression by 40 or 50% in the early stages of the disease, now we go even earlier in our prevention study, and maybe we can stop it entirely,” Skovronsky said. “So we’re really excited about that.”
