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Alzheimer's Disease and Dementias

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Dementia causes serious loss of cognitive ability, including memory, communication and language, reason and judgment, and visual perception. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form, but all dementias go beyond the normal signs of aging to interfere with daily life, affecting millions of people each year. RAND experts analyze long-term care options and effectiveness, as well as how dementia impacts caregivers, society, and the economy.

Journal Article

Dementia Is More Prevalent Among Rural Seniors

Dec 20, 2017

A nationally representative study of 16,000 U.S. seniors is the first to show that dementia and cognitive impairment are more common among rural seniors than their urban peers. However, rural investments in boosting high school graduation rates have narrowed the gap.
Report

U.S. Health System Should Prepare for Future Alzheimer's Treatments

Nov 15, 2017

The U.S. health care system isn't ready to meet demand for a breakthrough Alzheimer's treatment. Results from clinical trials are producing guarded optimism that a breakthrough could arrive as early as 2020. If this happens, up to 2.1 million patients could develop Alzheimer's dementia by 2040 while on treatment and evaluation waiting lists.

Explore Alzheimer's Disease and Dementias

Journal Article

The Foreclosure Crisis, Community Change, and the Cognitive Health of Older Adults

Community-level foreclosures are associated with a faster decline in individual cognition at older ages, with implications for the cognitive health of older adults.

Dec 1, 2020
Journal Article

Meta-issues: On Writing Scientific Manuscripts With a Stakeholder Group of Persons Living With Dementia

Writing scientific papers with stakeholders who had dementia posed special challenges.

Jun 5, 2020
Journal Article

Contributions of Persons Living With Dementia to Scientific Research Meetings: Results From the National Research Summit on Care, Services, and Supports for Persons With Dementia and Their Caregivers

A stakeholder group of persons living with dementia influenced the agenda and outcomes of a national research summit on care, services, and supports for persons living with the disease.

Apr 1, 2020
Journal Article

The Experiences of Persons Living with Dementia Planning for a Dementia Research Meeting: Lessons Learned From the National Research Summit on Care, Services, and Supports for Persons With Dementia and Their Caregivers

A stakeholder group of individuals living with dementia made valuable contributions to a research summit on the disease.

Apr 1, 2020
Journal Article

Effect of Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease on Household Financial Outcomes

Our goal in this study is estimate, on net, the financial effects of early-stage Alzheimer's Disease, from the start of first symptoms to diagnosis, on individuals and their families.

Mar 10, 2020
Brochure

Effecting Change, Improving Health

The RAND Corporation is dedicated to transforming the wellbeing of all people by improving health care systems in the United States and abroad.

Feb 7, 2020
Blog

Disinformation, Drug Policy, Artificial Intelligence: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on tools to fight disinformation online, the negative consequences of punishing pregnant women for drug use, how to ensure public trust in artificial intelligence, and more.

Nov 15, 2019
News Release

Capacity Limits in Australian Health Care System Could Delay Widespread Access to a Future Alzheimer's Treatment

As in other countries, the Australian health care system has limited capacity to rapidly move a future treatment for Alzheimer's disease from approval into wide clinical use, which could leave thousands of older people without access to transformative care if such a breakthrough occurs.

Nov 11, 2019
Report

Australia Is Not Prepared to Deliver an Alzheimer's Treatment

As in other countries, the Australian health care system has limited capacity to rapidly move a future treatment for Alzheimer's disease from approval into wide clinical use. That could leave thousands of older people without access to transformative care if such a breakthrough occurs.

Nov 11, 2019
Brochure

Struggling with Dementia

The costs of dementia -- economic and personal -- are staggering. A recent RAND analysis quantifies the scope of the problem in the United States and serves as a wake-up call to policymakers everywhere.

Sep 9, 2019
Report

Is Canada Prepared to Meet Demand for Alzheimer's Treatment?

If a treatment to slow the progression of Alzheimer's became available in 2021, hundreds of thousands of patients in Canada could progress to Alzheimer's dementia while on wait lists unless health care capacity is increased.

Jul 18, 2019
Journal Article

Paradoxical Lucidity: A Potential Paradigm Shift for the Neurobiology and Treatment of Severe Dementias

Paradoxical lucidity, challenges current assumptions and highlights the possibility of network-level return of cognitive function in cases of severe dementias, which can provide insight into both underlying neurobiology and future therapeutic possibilities.

Jul 17, 2019
Journal Article

Patient and Caregiver Goals for Dementia Care

To elicit patient-centered goals for dementia care, this qualitative study relies on focus groups of people with early-stage dementia and dementia caregivers.

Apr 2, 2019
Periodical

RAND Review: January-February 2019

This issue spotlights (1) research on how faith-based organizations promote health and well-being in underserved communities and (2) the Pardee RAND Graduate School's new approach to policy and training the next generation of policy experts.

Jan 7, 2019
Journal Article

The Relationship Between Lifetime Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenditures, Dementia, and Socioeconomic Status in the U.S.

This paper estimates cumulative lifetime medical expenditures that can be attributed to the onset of dementia using a nationally representative longitudinal survey from the U.S., the Health and Retirement Study.

Dec 18, 2018
Periodical

RAND Review: November-December 2018

This issue spotlights RAND's research on how providers can better meet the health care needs of veterans; life as a U.S. Army private; and Air Force efforts to improve leadership opportunities for women.

Nov 6, 2018
Q&A

Committed to Improving Health Care Policy: Q&A with Jodi Liu

Jodi Liu, an associate policy researcher at RAND, studies how to deliver high-quality care and how to pay for it. She discusses her assessment of a single-payer health care proposal in New York State and the supply-and-demand challenges that might arise if an Alzheimer's treatment became available.

Oct 23, 2018
News Release

Some European Countries Unprepared to Move Future Alzheimer's Treatment into Rapid Clinical Use

The health care systems in some European countries lack the capacity to rapidly move a disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer's disease from approval into widespread clinical use, which could leave 1 million people without access to transformative care if such a breakthrough occurs.

Sep 30, 2018
Infographic

How Prepared Are European Health Care Systems to Deliver a Future Alzheimer's Treatment? An Assessment of Health Care Infrastructure in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and The United Kingdom

A therapy for early-stage Alzheimer's disease could be available by 2020, but millions of European patients might have to wait a year or more for initial appointments in the multistep process if health care system capacity is not increased.

Sep 30, 2018
Report

Is Europe Prepared to Deliver an Alzheimer's Treatment?

A potential therapy for early-stage Alzheimer's patients might prevent or delay the progression to dementia. An assessment of how prepared six European nations are to deliver such a therapy indicates a pressing need to address health system constraints. One million patients could develop the disease while waiting for treatment.

Sep 30, 2018

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RAND Topic:
Alzheimer's Disease and Dementias

Topic Synonyms:
Neurocognitive Disorders