Americans Fear Alzheimer's Disease Most

In the not so distant future you will either have Alzheimer's, or know someone that does. ~ Bob DeMarco

By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room

A new poll conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, and in concert with Home Instead Senior Care, indicates that Americans now fear a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease more than a diagnosis of cancer.

Forty-four percent of Americans now fear Alzheimer's. The same poll indicated that 33 percent fear cancer.

An ABCNews poll conducted in April indicated that forty-one (41) percent of Americans have a relative or close friend that lives (or lived) with Alzheimer's disease.

I would suspect that by 2016, described as the tipping point by Rudy Tanzi, the number of adult persons who know someone living with Alzheimer's first hand will be approaching 100 percent.

Over 1,200 adult Americans, on average, are diagnosed with Alzheimer's each day.

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In 2010, Dr. Oz said the following to his audience on his television show:

Everyone in the audience is either going to get Alzheimer's, or know someone who has it.

A chilling prediction of the future.

More than 60 percent of Americans favor increased Federal spending for Alzheimer's research. It is easy to understand why - they know someone personally, or know of someone, that has Alzheimer's or is suffering from memory loss.

The ABCNews poll found that Democrats are 12 points more likely than Republicans to support higher funding.

Sixty-one percent (61) of Americans say they are unprepared to deal with a person diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Related content.

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• Test Your Memory for Alzheimer's (5 Best Tests)
• What is Dementia?
• Learning How to Communicate with Someone with Alzheimer's Disease
• Alzheimer's, Your Brain, and Adaptability
• Life After Dotty - Five Months Later
• Problems with Balance, Walking, Falling Can Be an Early Sign of Dementia
• Alzheimer's Quotes

Bob DeMarco is the Founder of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. The ARR knowledge base contains more than 3,811 articles with more than 306,100 links on the Internet. Bob lives in Delray Beach, FL.

Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room