there are over 500,000 canadians living with dementia today with another 25,000 diagnosed with the progressive disease every year,
according to the alzheimer society
. two-thirds of those diagnosed over the age of 65 are women. with the rate at which the disease is growing, it costs over $12-billion a year to care for patients.
one of the most frustrating aspects of alzheimer’s is that by the time symptoms begin to present themselves, the degenerative disorder is often too advanced for doctors to provide any meaningful medical intervention. on average, people live three to 11 years after being diagnosed,
according to the mayo clinic
.
because the new test is accurate enough to detect the presence of alzheimer’s in its early, intermediate and late stages — and chart the course of the disease over time — new therapeutic treatments may only be a matter of time for the roughly 50 million people worldwide who are affected.
alzheimer’s has been receiving widespread attention since the u.s. food and drug administration
gave the green light to the first new drug
for treatment of the disease in almost 20 years. but aducanumab — which received approval earlier this month despite fierce debate over whether or not it actually works — is intended for use by patients with mild cognitive decline, not advanced dementia. the drug, which is administered intravenously once a month, can cost up to us$50,000 per year for a high dose.