Estimating prevalence of early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease in the United States

Drew Spargo; Richard Zur; Pei-Jung Lin; Patricia Synnott; Eric Klein; Ann Hartry

doi:10.1002/dad2.12497

Estimating prevalence of early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease in the United States

Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2023 Nov 27;15(4):e12497. doi: 10.1002/dad2.12497. eCollection 2023 Oct-Dec.

Authors

Drew Spargo¹, Richard Zur², Pei-Jung Lin³, Patricia Synnott³, Eric Klein¹, Ann Hartry¹

Affiliations

¹ Eli Lilly and Company Indianapolis Indiana USA.
² IQVIA Falls Church Virginia USA.
³ Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies Tufts Medical Center Boston Massachusetts USA.

Abstract

Introduction: Understanding the prevalence of treatment-eligible Alzheimer's disease (AD) is crucial for policy planning.

Methods: We used a comprehensive literature review and population cascade approach to estimate the number of amyloid-positive, clinically diagnosed patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia due to AD in the United States.

Results: An estimated 666,646 individuals were identified as having MCI due to AD (range: 351,926-1,227,776) and 620,850 individuals as having mild dementia due to AD (range: 445,082-820,339). In a US population of 76 million individuals aged 60 or older in 2021, the estimates of MCI and mild dementia due to AD increased with age.

Conclusions: As earlier diagnosis of AD and new disease-modifying treatments become available, accurate population estimates are required to reduce uncertainty in the number of clinically diagnosed patients eligible for amyloid-targeting therapies.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; dementia; mild cognitive impairment; population cascade; population estimates.