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Health
Related: About this forumAlzheimer’s Estimated to Be No. 3 Killer Disease in U.S.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-05/alzheimer-s-disease-may-be-no-3-killer-disease-in-u-s-.htmlAlzheimers, known mostly for the memory loss and confusion it causes, may be the nations third-most deadly killer, according to a study that suggests many more Americans die from the disease than is known.
As many as a half-million people in the U.S. are killed by Alzheimers each year, or about five times more than the 83,494 now cited on death certificates, the research found. Many people fail to understand the destruction from Alzheimers disease, which is fatal when it impairs parts of the brain that control basic functions like breathing and swallowing.
Heart disease and cancer remain the top U.S. killers. Alzheimers, though, would replace respiratory disease as No. 3 based on the study results, up from No. 6. The findings should increase urgency to spend more on research on an illness thats becoming more common as the population ages, Bryan James, the lead author and an epidemiologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. It already costs more than $200 billion a year to care for patients with the disease, he said.
We think Alzheimers disease has been getting short shrift because it hasnt been considered a major killer, when its really one of the top three in the country, James said in a telephone interview.
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Alzheimer’s Estimated to Be No. 3 Killer Disease in U.S. (Original Post)
xchrom
Mar 2014
OP
DURHAM D
(32,610 posts)1. The cause of death is often listed as "Failure to Thrive" not Alzheimer's.
At least that is the cause listed for my family members except for one who had a brain autopsy and it actually said Alzheimer's.
tridim
(45,358 posts)2. The expected result of "low fat" diets and statin drugs.
Both are killing people, and yet the medical establishment still heavily promotes them. It's disgusting.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)3. Isn't it a disease of the elderly?
So of course the numbers are high since they have other diseases as well?