Women and Alzheimer’s: Startling Facts You Don’t Know

In honor of National Alzheimer’s Awareness month, we will be sharing information, research, and resources for professional caregivers and families all month long. We hope you will share this information with your personal network of family, friends, and colleagues to help spread the word.

Men, Women & Alzheimer’s Disease

According to Alzheimer’s Association research, “women are at the epicenter of the Alzheimer’s epidemic.” In a study released earlier this year, they revealed just how much of the Alzheimer’s burden women bear. Not only are women at increased risk for developing the disease, but they also are more likely to care for a loved one who lives with some form of dementia.

Women are more likely than men to end up in an assisted living community or a memory care assisted living community. According to the Assisted Living Federation of America, six of seven residents are women. This is partly attributed to the fact that women live longer, but it also may be because they are traditionally the caregivers. When they are unable to care for themselves any longer, assisted living often provides the solution.

The Facts about Alzheimer’s Disease and Women

In honor of National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, we wanted to share some of the startling facts about this disease and how it affects women in this country.

Using information from their own research combined with findings from the 2010 Shriver Report, the Alzheimer’s Association released these statistics in early 2014:

• A woman’s lifetime risk for developing breast cancer is 9.3%. Her risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease is 17.2%.
• A woman in the U.S. has a one in six chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease. By contrast, that risk for men is one in eleven.
• Three of every five Alzheimer’s caregivers are women.
• There are 2.5 more women caregivers for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease than men.
• 10 million women provide uncompensated care for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
• Almost 19% of female Alzheimer’s caregivers have had to leave their job to become a caregiver.

Please help us raise awareness this month by sharing this information with friends and colleagues, especially those who can help advance the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

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