Cost and research-funding statistics

Alzheimer Research

• Experts estimate that Alzheimer's disease costs the United States $80 billion to $100 billion a year in lost productivity, medical care, and personal caretaking.
  
  
  
  


• For people with Alzheimer's cared for at home, the average out-of-pocket cost to family caregivers (excluding lost wages) is $12,500 per year.
  
  
  
  


• For people with Alzheimer's in nursing homes, the average cost is $42,000 per year per person.
  
  
  
  


• The average cost of caring for a person with Alzheimer's from diagnosis until death is $174,000, making Alzheimer's disease the nation's third most costly illness, after heart disease and cancer.
  
  
  
  


• The Alzheimer's disease federal research budget has grown substantially over the past decade, to more than $400 million in 1999. But that figure represents only a small fraction of what the disease costs.