US Pharm. 2007;32(12):93.

Researchers at Duke University and the University of Michigan report that approximately 14% of Americans age 71 and older have some form of dementia. Their findings, which were published in the journal Neuroepidemiology, uncovered the fact that approximately 2.4 million of seniors with dementia were found to have Alzheimer's disease.

According to their research, Alzheimer's accounted for nearly 70% of all dementia while vascular dementia, often caused by stroke, accounted for about 17%. Dementia of undetermined etiology accounted for approximately 13% of the remaining cases. Some types of dementia included in this category were Parkinson's dementia, traumatic brain injury, or alcohol dementia.

The researchers also found that the risk of dementia decreases with an increase in education.

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