Alzeheimer's Hits Women Harder Than Men: Report

When Alzheimer's disease enters their life, women seem to be more heavily affected than men. According to a new report, women are not only more likely to develop Alzheimer's in late-adulthood than men, but also appear to have a greater likelihood of becoming the primary caregiver when a loved one develops the disease.

The Alzheimer's Association 2014 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures report released Wednesday cites several recent and trusted scientific reports supporting the theory that women are at the virtual "epicenter" of  Alzheimer's disease in modern society.

The 2014 report has dropped some alarming statistics to back this claim. According to the report, one in six women are likely to develop some form of Alzheimer's disease by the age of 65, compared to the male risk rate of one in 11 at the same age. Although breast cancer has long held the spotlight as the largest concern of aging women, the report also explains that women in their 60s have been found to be nearly twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's than they are breast cancer.

Angela Geiger, chief strategy officer of the Alzheimer's Association wrote in a press statement accompanying the report that it is her hope that these statistics will urge the medical community to turn their expertise towards the prevention of this debilitating disease.

"Well-deserved investments in breast cancer and other leading causes of death such as heart disease, stroke and HIV/AIDS have resulted in substantial decreases in death. Comparable investments are now needed to realize the same success with Alzheimer's in preventing and treating the disease," she wrote.

Interestingly, the report does not stop there. Alzheimer's disease not only affect its victims, but the families of the victims too. Here again the report finds that women take the brunt of the disease's burden, with  2.5 times as many women than men providing 24 hour care for someone living with Alzheimer's disease. Among these caregivers 17 percent of women, compared to 2 percent of men, report feelings of isolation and depression. Even for those working full-time, 18 percent of women at least took a leave of absence to care for an Alzheimer's affected loved one verses 11 percent of men.

The Alzheimer's Association 2014 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures report was published by the Alzheimer's Association citing data from The Shiver Report: A Woman's Nation Takes on Alzheimer's, which was published in 2010 by the Alzheimer's Association in a partnership with Maria Shiver and The Shiver Report. The full report will appear in the March 2013 issue of Alzhimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzzheimer's Association (Vol. 10, Issue 2)

[public release]