Deaths attributable to Alzheimer's disease in the United States.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study provided 2 estimates of the number of deaths attributable to Alzheimer's disease in the United States. METHODS: One estimate was based on data from the East Boston, Mass, study. The second was based on a simulation using population-based estimates of prevalence and separate estimates of excess death by duration of disease. RESULTS: Despite different methods and very different estimates of prevalence, these 2 methods led to very similar estimates of 173,000 and 163,000 excess deaths. CONCLUSIONS: These estimates suggest that 7.1% of all deaths in the United States in 1995 are attributable to Alzheimer's disease, placing it on a par with cerebrovascular diseases as the third leading cause of death.