In 2014 it was estimated that 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, a severe form of dementia, and hundreds of thousands more may suffer from an often misdiagnosed subtype called "hippocampal sparing" Alzheimer's, according to recent findings.^1,2

The most recent data suggests that well over half a million Americans die from Alzheimer's disease each year, making it the third leading cause of death in the US, right behind heart disease and cancer.^3,4

As discussed by Dr. Danielle Ofri in a recent New York Times blog, losing your mind, and with it, much of your personality and dignity, is a terrifying proposition. Making matters worse, many doctors shy away from addressing dementia—both with colleagues and their patients.⁵

Dr. Ofri goes on to say that all of the top 10 killers in American are potentially and largely preventable or at the very least modifiable – all except dementia.  We have tests to screen for many cancers and treatments that prolong life.  But there’s nothing, really, that we can do about dementia.  There aren’t any screening tests that can pick up the disease before symptoms appear.  Even if there were, there aren’t any treatments that make a substantial difference.  For doctors, this is profoundly frustrating.  No wonder dementia gets pushed onto the back burner.  In the dishearteningly limited time of a medical visit, we’re forced to focus on the diseases we can treat.