Washington (AP) -- More than five million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease. That's a ten percent increase since the last Alzheimer's Association estimate five years ago.
Age is the biggest risk factor. The report, to be released Tuesday, shows the nation is on track for skyrocketing Alzheimer's once the baby boomers start turning 65 in 2011.
Already, one in eight people 65 and older have the mind-destroying illness and nearly one in two people over 85.
The report says that unless scientists discover a way to delay Alzheimer's brain attacks, some 7.7 million people are expected to have the disease by 2030. By 2050, that toll could reach 16 million.
The report also contains a startling finding: between 200,000 and half-a-million people under age 65 have either early-onset Alzheimer's or another form of dementia.
Copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.