Alzheimer’s will hit U.S. Latinos hard in coming years | McClatchy Washington Bureau

The number of U.S. Latinos suffering from Alzheimer’s disease will grow from 379,000 in 2012 to 1.1 million by 2030, according to a new report released Wednesday.

“Latinos and Alzheimer’s Disease: New Numbers Behind the Crisis,” estimates the total cost of the disease on family caregivers and the U.S. economy as a whole will reach $373 billion by 2030 and more than $2.3 trillion by 2060 when an estimated 3.5 million Latinos are projected to be living with Alzheimer’s.

The cost estimates include medical and long-term care costs, the cost of unpaid informal care and the amount of earnings lost by people with the disease, according to the report by the Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the University of Southern California and LatinosAgainstAlzheimers.

Latinos in the U.S. are 50 percent more likely to get Alzheimer’s than non-Hispanic whites due to various age and socioeconomic factors. But they’re also less likely to be diagnosed with the disease.

“Latinos living with Alzheimer’s disease rely more heavily on informal care than more expensive options like nursing home care,” said a statement by Shinyi Wu, co-author of the report and senior scientist at the Roybal Institute. “Due to demographic and family structure shifts among Latinos, there will be a lower ratio of younger generations able to take care of older generations living with Alzheimer’s, placing significant societal and economic stress on Latinos.”