As both a chronic and a fatal illness, it has extended effects on families and society. Alzheimer's disease progresses through stages and people eventually require 24-hour care.
Families provide much of the necessary caregiving for relatives.
In addition, there is formal care, including adult day services, and residential and nursing care. In order to adequately prepare for the impact of AD, and to ensure that necessary services will be available, it is important to know the number of people with Alzheimer's. The prevalence of AD has direct implications for North Carolina's families, public and private care facilities, community service agencies, and for policy decisions. This web page reports projections of the total Alzheimer's cases by each county through the year 2020, providing two separate estimates. One estimate is more conservative in that it includes only moderate and severe cases of Alzheimer's.