Addressing Disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease: SWHR’s Women’s Health Equity Initiative
Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR)
Making women's health mainstream
As part of #WomensHealthWeek, SWHR is spotlighting different parts of its Women’s Health Equity Initiative. Alzheimer’s disease disproportionately affects women.
Of the nearly 6 million American adults living with Alzheimer’s disease, two-thirds are women. Women, both as patients and caregivers, bear a disproportional burden when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD).
Minority populations, particularly women of color, face an even greater burden from AD/ADRD, with African American adults being twice as likely and Hispanics 1.5 times more likely to be clinically diagnosed compared to non-Hispanic white populations. Emerging evidence suggests that across populations, African American and Hispanic women have the first and second highest prevalence of AD/ADRD, respectively.
Women living with AD/ADRD may face many barriers to care, including bias, cultural competency of clinicians, health literacy (for themselves or their caregivers), a lack of trust in health care, language barriers, technology barriers (whether through a digital divide and/or a generational divide that prohibits access), and being uninsured or underinsured.
As the U.S. population ages, the burden — and cost — for patients, caregivers, providers, and the health care system will continue to grow. The estimated total health care costs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease in 2020 is $305 billion, and it is expected to increase to more than $1 trillion. This cost estimate does not include the informal care provided to AD/ADRD patients; in 2019 alone, informal care was estimated at $244 billion.
Carmen Morales has been a dementia caregiver for her mother for over a decade. Watch Carmen's story here.
Learn more about the health disparities women face in relation to AD/ADRD with the Alzheimer’s fact sheet.
SWHR’s Women’s Health Equity Initiative highlights statistics on women’s health in the United States and aims to engage communities on solutions to improve health equity across Alzheimer’s disease, among other conditions. To learn more and support the Women’s Health Equity Initiative, read more on the SWHR blog, and visit www.swhr.org/healthequity #SWHRHealthEquity