Incidence
(15-08-2005)
Alzheimer's disease is the most common of the dementia diseases. It is the cause of approximately 60 % of all cases of dementia. In Australia, approximately 120000 people are affected by Alzheimer's disease.
The disease is most common among elderly people who are older than 70 years old. It occurs uncommenly before the age of 70 - and it is rare for the disease to begin before the age of 60. Memory loss and intellectual capacity loss in younger and middle-aged adults are therefore seldom due to dementia.
The incidence of the disease measured in percentages has not changed. It is still the same percentage of a specific age group that develops Alzheimer's disease. As there are more elderly people, and we live longer, the total number of people with Alzheimer's disease has increased in recent years. At the age of 65, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease is approximately 5 %, at the age of 80 it is approximately 22 %, and at the age of 95 approximately 50 %.
As the elderly population is growing in numbers, Alzheimer's Disease will become more prevalent in the coming years.