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Report: 1-in-60 Hoosiers Has Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's Association

A new report shows approximately 1 of every 60 Hoosiers suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

Statistics from the 2015 Alzheimer‘s Disease Facts and Figures report 110,000 Hoosiers currently have the disease and an estimated 2,100 Hoosiers die from it every year.

Also, while the national rates for HIV, breast cancer, heart disease and stroke have gone down since 2000, the rate of Alzheimer’s disease is up more than 70-percent.

Still, a spokesman for the Alzheimer‘s Association of Greater Indiana says a cure may not be forthcoming as quickly as many hope. Dustin Ziegler says researchers remain concerned there’s not as much funding as there needs to be to learn more about how to fight the disease.

So one goal of his group’s national conference in Indianapolis next month will be to help teach families how to deal with dementia until a cure is found.

5.3-million Americans are affected by the ailment and Ziegler says that number will triple in the next decade. But as the group prepares for its statewide educational conference May 1, Ziegler says he worries some researchers aren’t trying to solve the problem because they’re not convinced there’ll be long-term funding for their work.

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