My mother, Maria Checchia Erickson, lives in a Memory Care home with 16 other residents where only one is male.
Women are nearly twice as likely as men to develop Alzheimer's and then live longer than men following an Alzheimer's diagnosis.
Age is the single most significant factor for both men and women as the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease doubles every 5 years after reaching age 65.
And since we're living longer (for women current avg age in US is 79 and for men 73) the chance of developing Alzheimer's greatly increases each year.
Women in their 60's are more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease as they are to develop breast cancer.
The increased prevalence of Alzheimer's among women likely arises through a combination of factors -
- Sex hormones (estrogen vs testosterone); menopause
- Sex chromosomes (two X chromosomes in women vs one X and one Y in men)
- Brain structure; differences in brain composition
- Gender and life experiences
But there are no definitive answers yet, just theories.
Here's what we do know:
- Alzheimer's disease is not a natural part of aging.
- Alzheimer's disease is 100% fatal.
- There is still no successful treatment or cure.
- Of the top 10 causes of death in America, it is the only disease without any effective drug or cause of action.
- If Alzheimer's runs in your family that does not necessarily mean you will get it. Conversely, if it does not run in your family, you are still at risk.
- Alzheimer's is the nation's most expensive disease and is currently on track to bankrupt Medicaid.
- And yet, federal funding for ALZ research is only about $3.1 billion a year, compared to about $6.6 billion for cancer and $3.8 billion for HIV/AIDS.
- Costs for care far exceed other terminal illnesses. The average total cost of care for a person with dementia over the last five years of life is $287,038.
This will be Maria's Sisters 10th year participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer's.
#endalz #ihatealz #thelongestgoodbye #mariassisters #walk2endalz #walktoendalz #2023
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