WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- Managing the predicted explosion of chronic conditions like heart disease and Alzheimer's in an aging U.S. population will take much more than creative financing -- it will take robust research to slow a disease's progression, or even stop it in its tracks, patient advocacy groups said Thursday.
With the current pool of 36 million Americans aged 65 and older projected to double in the next 25 years, Alzheimer's disease alone will cost a staggering $400 billion in medical and caregiving costs, warned members of the Alliance for Aging Research at a news briefing in Washington.
But in the face of what the group called the "Silver Tsunami" to come, "clever financing mechanisms won't be enough," said AAR Executive Director Daniel Perry.
What will work, he said, are new treatments to delay the age when people are at highest risk for diseases like Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, a related disorder, and other chronic conditions that afflict the aged, such as heart disease and diabetes.
Also critical are new therapies to slow these diseases' progression and allow people to remain functional for as long as possible, Perry said.
But precious research dollars won't come unless the American people and health policymakers are worried enough about the societal impact of an exploding senior citizenry, AAR said, and a recent survey suggests that, at the moment, they're not.
In fact, in the Roper survey -- released by AAR Thursday -- just 4 percent of respondents, when asked about their odds of having a chronic disease by age 65, correctly chose the range 81 percent to 90 percent. What's more, nearly 40 percent of those polled "vastly underestimated" their chances of having heart disease by retirement age, odds that are estimated at 61 percent to 70 percent, the group said.
Thus, what was needed was a reality check for Washington policymakers and the public, with hard numbers on each chronic condition affecting a graying population, who in terms of gender and race will have a particular disease and its burden on the U.S. healthcare system and society, AAR said.
And so the group's "Silver Book" was born.
Unveiling "The Silver Book: Chronic Disease and Medical Innovation in an Aging Nation" at Thursday's briefing, AAR billed the guide as "an almanac that draws on scores of authoritative studies and analyses by the government, industry, private organizations and prominent economists."
"The Silver Book constantly reminds you of (chronic diseases') impact by showing the numbers," Perry told the briefing.
He said the guide offers a "forward look" at the growth of medical technologies and what is known about a particular disorder's mechanism and how to slow its impact.
Currently, the Silver Book -- set to go online May 1 with a searchable database -- is a compilation of 135 studies from 85 agencies, but more studies will be added as they become available, Perry said.
"The Silver Book will be a living, interactive document for the health policy community," Perry said.
Mary Wooley, president of the non-profit group Research!America, said the collection of hard statistics about chronic diseases' impact might help "change the conversation" about the healthcare challenges to come.
She noted, for example, that a treatment that delays the onset of Alzheimer's disease alone would save $50 billion a year.
"We want to change the perception that (chronic disease) can't be managed financially. It can be," she said.
