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Key Takeaways
- Alzheimer’s disease affects nearly 6.9 million older U.S. adults, making it the most common form of dementia and a leading cause of long-term care needs and disability.
- The economic burden of ADRD is substantial and rising, with costs projected to increase from nearly $344 billion in 2020 to over $3 trillion by 2060.
The impact of Alzheimer’s disease is a prominent one, as it impacts an estimated 6.9 million US residents ages 65 and older.1 This makes it the most common form of dementia, while other forms include cerebrovascular disease, frontotemporal degeneration, hippocampal sclerosis, Parkinson disease, and Lewy body disease.
The need for long-term care and support services
These neurocognitive disorders—known as Alzheimer Disease and Alzheimer Disease-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD, or ADRD)—can affect memory, thought processes, and functioning, which can cause disability and potentially death as result. Individuals with ADRD often require ongoing healthcare and long-term services and supports (LTSS) as they experience progressive cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social, and financial changes. In situations where ADRD advances, individuals will most likely need considerable hands-on care, with limits to their movement and self-care.1
Knowing this, ADRD is considered one of the most expensive diseases to manage in the United States, with one estimate predicting the total cost of ADRD-related caregiving to range from $305 to $450 billion. These projections for exceed diabetes ($412.9 billion), heart disease ($239.9 billion), stroke ($56.5 billion),and cancer ($21.1 billion).1
Study explores the racial and ethnic impact of ADRD costs
Given these costs, ADRD’s impact on the US population was worth exploring further. Keeping this in mind, a cross-sectional study published in JAMA Network Open1 sought to estimate the current and projected economic burden of ADRD through 2060 among non-Latino African American, Latino, and non-Latino White adults.
Using the 2014 to 2020 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), the study investigators pulled data on African American, Latino, and White adults ages 50 older with ADRD; meanwhile, data on their unpaid caregivers were pulled from the 2011 to 2017 National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) and 2013 Panel Study of Income Dynamics.
In order to predict the current and future economic burden, the researchers supported their data with information from the US Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Internal Revenue Service. Using that information, they utilized two-part regression models to estimate medical and work-related costs for older adults, while multivariate-distance matching was used to assess the value of unpaid care, lost wages and productivity, reductions in federal income tax revenue, and financial transfers to caregivers. This data analysis was conducted between March 2023 and February 2025.
After running these models, the study consisted of 31, 028 older adults. The breakdown was:
- 18, 617 (75%) White
- 5,346 (10%) Latino
- 5,184 (10%) African American
- 1,043 (3%) Asian (Indian, Chinese, or Filipino);
- 690 (2%) Other Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander
- 146 (<1%) American Indian or Alaska Native
In the NSOC sample consisting of 1,929 older adults, there were 1,116 (58%) White, 644 (33%) African American, and 169 (9%) Latino adults. In 2020, the total estimated economic burden of ADRD was nearly $344 billion, and it is anticipated to exceed $3 trillion by 2060. African American and Latino adults accounted for one-third of this burden at $113 billion in 2020, with their share expected to rise to $1.7 trillion by 2060. This surpasses the projected burden for White adults, which is anticipated to increase from $231 billion in 2020 to $1.4 trillion by 2060.
Caregivers of adults with ADRD who are African American or Latino were found to experience greater financial strain from providing care, compared to White caregivers, with this disparity expected to widen in the coming decades.
“The findings of this study suggest that African American and Latino older adults with ADRD and their families are likely to face disproportionately high burdens, primarily associated with unpaid caregiving,” explained the researchers. “Understanding ADRD prevalence, comorbidity, inadequate care, and support policies may attenuate economic burdens for all US residents.”
Reference
1. Mudrazija S, Aranda MP, Gaskin DJ, Monroe S, Richard P. Economic Burden of Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias by Race and Ethnicity, 2020 to 2060. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(6):e2513931. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.13931