Research in the Area of Alzheimer Disease Reported from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Financial And Health Insurance Statuses of Alzheimer’s Disease And Related Dementia Caregivers): Neurodegenerative Diseases and Conditions – Alzheimer Disease

2024 JAN 04 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in Alzheimer disease. According to news reporting originating from Atlanta, Georgia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The number of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) is rising as the U.S. population ages.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Important sources of care for these individuals are the approximately 11 million caregivers who donate upwards of 18 billion hours of unpaid time while incurring many of the daily expenses and out-of-pocket healthcare costs associated with their role (Alzheimer’s Association, 2023). Therefore, the financial statuses of these individuals are important to understand as we continue to develop and fortify ADRD programs and health services. Participants from 40 U.S. states and territories who completed the 2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System caregiving module were divided into three categories: non-caregivers (n = 184,709), non-ADRD caregivers (n = 36,459), and ADRD caregivers (n = 10,583). Results from a series of Rao-Scott chi-squared tests indicate that household income levels were similar across these three categories, but a significantly higher percentage of caregivers had other people-likely the care recipient- living in their household (87.3% non-ADRD, 86.8% ADRD, 81.1% non-caregivers).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Moreover, while significantly fewer caregivers reported that they lacked health coverage (7.3% non-ADRD, 6.4% ADRD) than non-caregivers (8.4%), a larger percentage reported missing a healthcare appointment in the previous year because they could not afford it (12.6% non-ADRD, 12.8% ADRD, 8.8% non-caregivers). These results further highlight the need for focused federal, state, and local interventions for community-dwelling caregiver populations to support the financial toll of caregiving.”

For more information on this research see: Financial And Health Insurance Statuses of Alzheimer’s Disease And Related Dementia Caregivers. Innovation in Aging, 2023,7(Supplement_1). (Innovation in Aging - https://academic.oup.com/innovateage). The publisher for Innovation in Aging is Oxford University Press (OUP).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igad104.3356.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jenny Walker, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Additional authors for this research include Roshni Patel, Lisa McGuire.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)