Age And Sex - Risk Factors For Alzheimers Disease: Alzheimers
Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School
Age and sex
Your age itself poses some risk, regardless of whether a family member has had Alzheimer's disease. The risk usually rises after age 65 and increases in subsequent years (see Table 2). Still, Alzheimer's is not an inevitable consequence of aging.
It also appears that women have a somewhat higher rate of Alzheimer's disease than men do. However, this effect might be due not to any biological factor, but to greater longevity.
Table 2: Americans with Alzheimer's disease | ||
| About 4.5 million people in the United States have Alzheimer's disease. | ||
| Age group | People with Alzheimer's | Estimated prevalence per age group |
| 65–74 | 0.3 million | 5% |
| 75–84 | 2.4 million | 17% |
| 85+ | 1.8 million | 45% |
| Source: "Alzheimer Disease in the U.S. Population: Prevalence Estimates Using the 2000 Census," Archives of Neurology, August 2003. | ||
| Last updated: | January 23, 2007 |
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Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.
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