The Far-reaching Economic Impact of AD

It is difficult to place a price tag on AD. However, the National Institutes of Health estimate a staggering cost of $100 billion per year in the United States alone. This makes AD as costly as cancer and third only after substance abuse and heart disease.[10] The cost to American business is $61 billion per year due to lost productivity, absenteeism, worker replacement for family caregivers, and overall health care costs.[11]

The financial burden for patients and their families is equally overwhelming. Many families choose to take care of their loved one at home for as long as possible, with yearly costs as much as $17,700 for severe dementia.[12]

Most persons with AD will eventually be institutionalized, which adds significantly to the overall financial burden to society as a whole. In 2005, the average price for a private room in a nursing home was $74,095 with specialized Alzheimer services costing even more.[13]

A recent Alzheimer's disease study projects that "new drugs that would produce a 5-year delay in Alzheimer's disease (AD) onset for all new cases between 2010 and 2050 would yield a benefit of almost $4 trillion ($2006) per year."