The potential for an active, healthy old age
is tempered by one of the most daunting and
potentially costly consequences of ever-longer
life expectancies: the increase in people with
"
dementia patients eventually need constant
care and help with the most basic activities
of daily living, creating a heavy economic and
social burden. Prevalence of dementia rises
sharply with age. An estimated 25-30 percent
of people aged 85 or older have dementia.
Unless new and more effective interventions
disease, prevalence is expected to rise
dramatically with the aging of the population
in the United States and worldwide.