•AD affects more than 4 million Americans.

•One in 10 people over the age of 65 are affected.

•Nearly 50% of all people age 85 and older may have symptoms of AD

•If nothing changes, AD is likely to affect up to 14 million Americans by 2050.

•An intervention that could delay the onset of AD by 5 years would reduce the number of persons with AD by 50% by the year 2050 (Brookmeyer et al. 1998).

•The % of non-Caucasians in the US population is growing rapidly.  By 2050 the % of Americans >65 year old will have increased from its current 16% to 34%.

•African Americans and Hispanic Americans may have higher overall risk of AD than do Caucasians (Tang et al. 1998).  Therefore forecasts for AD in the US may be underestimated.