Washington - A projected 5.2 million people in the US have Alzheimer’s disease and it might affect 1 out of 8 baby boomers, the Alzheimer’s Association reported on Tuesday.
The study found out that there were about 411,000 new cases of the disease in the year 2000 and the figure is expected to rise about 454,000 new cases every year by 2010.

The report predicts that by 2050, around 959,000 persons will be identified with the disease every year.The report says that 14 % (which includes16 % of women and 11 % of men) of the people in the age group of 71 and above have dementia.

The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease and it accounts for around 60 to 80 % of the cases.The disease begins with mild loss of memory and confusion but turns into total memory loss and inability to care for oneself. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. A few drugs that are used to treat Alzheimer’s disease can only slow down its advancement for a short time. (more…)

Washington - The American Cancer Society said that death rate in the U.S due to cancer is maintained a constant decline, which started in the early 90s. However, it may still cause an estimated 565,650 American deaths in this year.

Age-adjusted cancer death rates for U.S. males in a graphic released by the American Cancer Society. The U.S. death rate from cancer has continued a steady decline that began in the early 1990s but it will still kill a projected 565,650 Americans this year, the organization said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Handout

“The death rate due to lung, prostate, breast, colorectal and various other types of cancer dropped in 2005, which is the most recent year for which data were available. However the data was less compared to 2003 and 2004,” the American Cancer Society said. In 2005, there was about 184 cancer deaths per 100,000 people where as it was 186 the year before.

But there was increase in the actual number of deaths due to cancer. ACS said that about 559,312 people died due to cancer in 2005, compared to 553,888 in the year 2004. The numbers of deaths have increased in spite of fall in death rate as the population of the United States increased more. (more…)