Map reveals areas of US with higher Alzheimer’s risk, according to new study

The place where you live could increase or decrease the likelihood that you will be diagnosed with dementia as some areas have a higher Alzheimer's risk than others , a study has revealed.

It is estimated that nearly seven million Americans have Alzheimer's, including about 200,000 people under age 65 with younger-onset Alzheimer's. According to research, the number of people with Alzheimer's is expected to double every five years after age 65 and nearly triple to 14 million by 2060.

In a recent study, researchers from the University of Michigan found that your odds of getting the disease could come down to your zip code. Scientists found that there are inner-state disparities meaning that a person in a town could have a two-times higher risk of being diagnosed with dementia compared to someone living just a few towns from them.

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If you cannot see the map above, click here .

Different populations will experience higher or lower environmental risks for dementia, and there will always be demographic variations in genetic influences, but scientists found a concerning patterns even when taking contributing factors into consideration. Lead author Julie Bynum, a geriatrician and health care researcher from the University of Michigan, said: "These findings go beyond demographic and population-level differences in risk, and indicate that there are health system-level differences that could be targeted and remediated.

"The message is clear: from place to place, the likelihood of getting your dementia diagnosed varies, and that may happen because of everything from practice norms for health care providers to individual patients’ knowledge and care-seeking behavior." The scientists produced a map showing the areas where people are mostly at risk of receiving a dementia diagnosis.

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They said the differences could include disparities in screening and testing, the level of healthcare and education, and also people's willingness to see a doctor. They found that the highest concentration of Alzheimer's diagnoses was in the South, along the Stroke Belt region, which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

In this area, the population also has a greater rate of cardiovascular risk factors. Scientists looked at 306 different regions across the country and discovered, for example, that areas of Mississippi had fewer cases than they expected, while central Texas had way more.

They also discovered differences in places right next to each other - for example, the diagnosis intensity in Portland, Oregon, was 1.2 - meaning more diagnoses were made than expected - while in Bend, that value was 0.8 - meaning there were fewer diagnoses than expected. A similar difference was recorded in Florida, with the diagnosis intensity being 1.1 in Gainsville, and going down to 0.9 just south in more rural Ocala.

The findings of the research were published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association with the summary saying: "Where one resides influences the likelihood of receiving an ADRD diagnosis, particularly among those 66–74 years of age and minoritized groups." While the researchers can't say whether the variation among states reflects underdiagnosis or overdiagnosis, they state that the areas with lower-than-expected diagnosis rates for dementia could use the new findings to look at what barriers might stand in the way of someone getting diagnosed.

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Bynum said: "The goal these days should be to identify people with cognitive issues earlier, yet our data show the younger age group of Medicare participants is the one with the most variation. For communities and health systems, this should be a call to action for spreading knowledge and increasing efforts to make services available to people. And for individuals, the message is that you may need to advocate for yourself to get what you need, including cognitive checks."