The Alzheimer’s population in SC is projected to swell by 2025. Here’s by how much
The number of South Carolina residents living with Alzheimer’s is expected to grow 26% by 2025, a new report states.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s recent 2022 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures, an estimated 120,000 South Carolinians 65 years old and older will be living with the disease by 2025, up from the current 95,000. The rapid growth is expected to place more burden on an already taxed health care system, some experts say.
South Carolina is part of a larger trend across the United States. The report shows that 88 million Americans 65 years old and older will be living with Alzheimer’s by 2050, up from 58 million this year.
The report points to the large, aging baby boomer generation as the reason for the expected surge.
“It’s a huge concern,” Dr. Prexa Naik, a geriatric physician with Prisma Health Senior Primary Care in Columbia, said of the expected growth in Alzheimer’s patients. “Columbia and the Midlands are lucky to have a a geriatric practice with five physicians, but even that’s not nearly enough for the population.”
The report shows that most states, including South Carolina, will have to nearly triple the number of geriatricians who were practicing in 2021 to effectively care for approximately 10% of those 65 and older who are projected to have Alzheimer’s dementia in 2050.
South Carolina is also one of 20 states that are deemed “dementia neurology deserts,” meaning that fewer than 10 neurologists will be available per 10,000 people with dementia by 2025. Similarly, almost every state, including South Carolina, needs to double the number of direct care workers to meet anticipated demand by 2028.
Naik said that roughly 10% to 20% of people 65 years old and older will develop mild cognitive impairment or MCI every year and roughly 10% to 15% will develop dementia. And many in South Carolina have a greater risk of developing such issues, given the prevalence of contributing factors, such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, Naik said.
“I honestly don’t know what we’re going to do,” Naik said of the growth in patients.
The report notes another issue is identifying which individuals living with mild cognitive impairment are more likely to develop dementia. Despite the prevalence among aging Americans, the new report found that 4 out of 5 Americans know very little or are not familiar with MCI. When prompted with a description of MCI, more than half say MCI sounds like “normal aging.”
“Understanding and recognizing mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease is important because it provides an earlier opportunity to intervene in the Alzheimer’s disease continuum,” said Maria Carrillo, Ph.D., chief science officer, Alzheimer’s Association. “Distinguishing
between cognitive issues resulting from normal aging, those associated with MCI and those related to MCI due to Alzheimer’s disease is critical in helping individuals, their families and physicians prepare for future treatment and care.”
Naik said as people age, there will invariably be some normal memory changes, such as occasionally forgetting a word or having difficulty remembering a name or phrase.
“Abnormal is when you see this on a more routine basis,” she said. “And when that’s affecting someone’s day-to-day activities, that’s when you’re starting to enter the next phase, which is dementia.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
