PolicyMap & RTI International Collaborate on ADRD Research Model

The Growing Impact of Alzheimer’s Disease

June is Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month. Nearly 7 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s, and by 2050, this number is expected to nearly double to 13 million. In 2021, Alzheimer’s was the fifth-leading cause of death among people aged 65 and older.

With health and long-term care costs for people with dementia projected to reach $360 billion in 2024 and nearly $1 trillion by 2050 according to the Alzheimer’s Association, understanding and addressing the disparities in Alzheimer’s prevalence and care at the neighborhood level has never been more crucial.

A Roundtable Discussion on Disparities in ADRD Prevalence

PolicyMap is collaborating with RTI International to research and map the factors contributing to disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease & Related Dementias, or ADRD. This partnership highlights a shared commitment to advancing health equity and reducing the burden of ADRD on vulnerable populations.

This month, Dr. Jazmyne McNeese, Senior Data Analyst at PolicyMap, joins the research team for a roundtable discussion on the Healthy Intersections Podcast (first published on The Medical Care Blog, June 19, 2024). The team includes Dr. Lisa Lines, principal investigator for the RTI Rarity project; Chloe McGlynn, a research public health analyst at RTI; and Dr. Vicki Johnson-Lawrence, a social epidemiologist and community-based participatory researcher at RTI. They discuss disparities in the prevalence of ADRD, and explore some of the top modifiable risk factors for ADRD. The group also shares ideas for improving access to care for people with ADRD and shows how prevalence, and some of the top predictors, are distributed across the US. Dr. McNeese shares how PolicyMap’s geospatial analytics support this crucial work.

About the Healthy Intersections Podcast

The Healthy Intersections podcast focuses on the intersection of medical care and public health. The academic, non-profit, volunteer-run blog is sponsored by the peer-reviewed journal Medical Care and the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association. Healthy Intersections is a project of the same editorial team as The Medical Care Blog (since 2014).