Over 6 million Americans of all ages are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, meaning the most common form of dementia. One of the worrying aspects is that many of those individuals who deal with symptoms that are specific to Alzheimer’s won’t seek medical help.
According to CNBC, there’s a shortage of specialists when it comes to dementia, as well as in the case of testing capacity. These shortages could lead to Alzheimer’s patients having to wait too long to receive medical care. Considering that the disease progresses from year to year, the huge wait times can surely represent a problem for the patients.
The wait times could be up to four years for diagnosis and treatment
Waiting four years to get diagnosed and treated for Alzheimer’s is totally unacceptable. The disease can progress a lot during this time. Unfortunately, individuals who suffer from the most common form of dementia might have to wait that long only to get a diagnosis and treatment. If they’re “luckier,” they might have to wait “only” 18 months, according to the same study that CNBC writes about.
Anne White, who is president of neuroscience at Eli Lily, explained for CNBC:
The whole process from that time of the family physician conversation to the point of infusion, I worry how long it will take and the complexities of the patient navigating through all of that to successfully get to the end.
There are new treatments available for Alzheimer’s as well that are promising, such as Eisai, Leqembi, or Biogen. But the issue is that there aren’t enough dementia specialists, and neither is the testing capacity that’s needed in the US in order to diagnose any person.
Alzheimer’s can radically change a person in a few years, as the patient can lose his memory and cognitive abilities almost completely.
