Alzheimers may afflict more Americans in the future

"Many of our nation's baby boomers have a time bomb ticking in their heads today," said Stephen McConnell, a spokesperson for the Alzheimer's Association, which lobbied Congress on Tuesday for $100 million in new research money.

The group's projections - based on Census data and the prevalence of Alzheimer's now - indicated that by 2050, when the youngest baby boomers will be in their 80s, 14 million Americans could suffer from the disease, compared with 4 million today.

"And that figure only counts the patients who are affected, it doesn't count the husbands and the wives and the children and the brothers and the sisters," said Rosemary Cronin of Dubuque, Iowa, whose husband Bob was diagnosed with Alzheimer's four years ago.

Cronin testified Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that allots money for health programs. Chair Arlen Specter, (R-Pa.), said he hopes to boost government spending on Alzheimer's research from about $340 million this fiscal year to $440 million in 1999, but "candidly, it is easier said than done."

"On Capitol Hill, you sometimes get a lot of smiles, but not a lot of cash," Specter said.

Congressional Republicans and President Clinton agree that more money should go to medical research, but not on where it will come from and how it should be spent.

Alzheimer's is an irreversible neurological disorder that destroys brain cells, robbing people of memory. It most commonly shows up in people older than age 65. Medicare, the cash-strapped health program for the elderly, spends on average more than $3,000 a year extra on each senior citizen who has it.

New drugs may help slow its progress, and substances such as vitamin E have shown preventative potential, but more study is needed, said Dr. Steven DeKosky, director of the University of Pittsburgh's Alzheimer's Disease Center.

"If we don't start now, with this money we are asking from Congress, it will be too late," DeKosky said.

03-26-98