1

Women and Alzheimer’s DiseasePresented to the Senate Women’s Adequate Health Care Study Committee

Tuesday, October 6, 2015Augusta, GA

2

Alzheimer’s—National Landscape• 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s

disease, including an estimated 200,000 under the age of 65. By 2050, up to 16 million will have the disease.

• Nearly two-thirds of those with Alzheimer’s disease—3.2 million—are women.

• Women are substantially more likely than men to assume intensive, time-consuming caregiving roles such as those in which the care recipient lives in the caregiver’s household and requires round-the-clock care.

3

The cost of caring for those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias is estimated at $226 billion in 2015, increasing to $1.1 trillion (in today’s dollars) by mid-century.

4

Americans—Age 60+ Fear Getting Alzheimer’s

5

Risk of Alzheimer’s and Breast CancerRemaining Lifetime Risk of a Woman in Her 60s

28.7%10.8%

6

Alzheimer’s Disease in Georgia• Over 130,000 Georgians are living with

Alzheimer’s disease—190,000 by 2050.• We know that only ½ of those living with the

disease have received a diagnosis—so the number is higher.

7

According to Medicare—In Georgia in 2012

• Approximately 93,200 Georgia Medicare beneficiaries had Alzheimer’s Disease or a Related Dementia (ADRD)

• That is 1 in every 10 Medicare beneficiaries had ADRD

• 13% were hospitalized• Total cost to Medicare was $467.2 million• 3,650 patients died

8

Alzheimer’s Disease in Georgia• 63% of Georgians age 65+ with Alzheimer’s

disease are women• In 2014, 506,000 Georgians provided

576,000,000 of unpaid care, and had $251,000,000 higher health care costs—largely attributed to their careving

9

Population Living with Depression

10

Emotional Stress of Alzheimer’s Caregiving

11

Alzheimer’s and Dementia CaregiversBy Age of Caregiver

1% of respondents refused to provide age.

12

Burden of CaregivingProportion of Alzheimer’s Caregivers Who ProvideHelp with Daily Activities

13

Financial Considerations

• Getting a Diagnosis—not always a physician in local community—especially in rural areas

• Power of Attorney—not a “license to steal”• Guardianship Issues—especially if the family

member resides in another state• Respite Care—Cost of Care—CCSP and

HCBS• Other Services—through CCSP and HCBS

14

Duration of Caregiving

15

Cognitive Decline in Georgia According to Data from the

2013 BRFSS• 12.6% of adult women in Georgia age 45 and

older reported increased confusion or memory loss in the past year

• 51.4% of those women 45+ reported experiencing functional difficulties associated with the confusion/memory loss

• 65.6% of those women age 45 and older reported needing assistance

16

2012 BRFSS Georgia Caregiver Data

• 25% of all adult women in Georgia are caregivers.

• Among those caregivers, 12.3% reported that Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia was the care recipient’s major health problem.

• 15.6% of women reported her greatest difficulty in caregiving was financial burden.

17

2012 BRFSS GeorgiaCaregiver Data

• 4.4% stated the greatest difficulty was that caregiving interfered with work

• 3.8% stated that the greatest difficult was that caregiving created or aggravated her own health problems.

• The average amount of caregiving women provided was:0-8 hr/wk: 43% 9-19 hr/wk: 21.8%

20-39 hr/wk: 18.5% 40+ hr/wk: 16.6%

18

Women and Caregiving—Burden vs. Labor of Love

19

Women and Caregiving—Impact on Employment

20

Deaths from Major DiseasesChange in Number of Deaths, 2000-2013

21

Alzheimer’s Deaths

22

Alzheimer’s Deaths in Georgia

Due to work on the Georgia Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias State Plan, the death certificate in Georgia was changed in 2014, to capture not only the cause of death but contributing causes of death—such as Alzheimer’s.

23

Georgia Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias State Plan

• Signed by the Governor in 2014, the State Plan (GARD) will enable Georgia to collect state-specific data

• That data will enable the State Plan Advisory Council to implement the state plan and to ensure that we meet the needs of Georgians living with the disease and their caregivers, and create and support existing infrastructure to meet those needs.