Prevalence of Dementia in the United States: The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study

To estimate the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias in the USA using a nationally representative sample.

The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study sample was composed of 856 individuals aged 71 years and older from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (HRS) who were evaluated for dementia using a comprehensive in-home assessment. An expert consensus panel used this information to assign a diagnosis of normal cognition, cognitive impairment but not demented, or dementia (and dementia subtype). Using sampling weights derived from the HRS, we estimated the national prevalence of dementia, AD and vascular dementia by age and gender.