News

Approximately 5% of Seniors Report at Least One Cognitive Disorder

Slightly over over 5% of the nearly 39 million Americans aged 65 and older in 2007 reported one or more cognitive disorders, such as senility or dementia, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Seniors aged 85 and older were the most likely to have reported one or more cognitive disorders (18.4%), compared with seniors aged 75 to 84 (6%) and seniors aged 65 to 74 (1.1%).

AHRQ found that for elder Americans aged 65 and older in 2007:

• Seniors with less than a high school education were more likely to have reported one or more cognitive disorders than seniors that were high school graduates (8.6% and 4.9%, respectively) or seniors with more than a high school education (2.7%).

• Nearly 8% of poor seniors reported one or more cognitive disorders compared with 4.1% of middle and high income seniors reporting such a condition.

• Nearly 11% of seniors who had both Medicare and another type of supplemental public insurance reported one or more cognitive disorders, compared with 5% of seniors with Medicare only and 4.1% of seniors with Medicare and supplemental private insurance.

• Average annual health care expense for seniors reporting one or more cognitive disorders totaled $15,549 a year, compared with $9,019 for seniors not reporting any cognitive disorders.

— Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality