[Epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease: latest trends].

Epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease: latest trends. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the main cause of dementia in the elderly population, and the 5th leading cause of mortality. It afflicts around 44 million people worldwide. France is currently counting 1.1 million people suffering from AD, with the occurrence of 225.000 new patients each year. Due to the rapid aging of the population, the number of patients should almost double by 2050. Recent epidemiological studies found a decrease in the incidence of AD, which could be partly explained by a better care of some risk factors associated with the disease. The recent development of non-invasive biomarkers of AD allows to a better understanding of the pre-clinical phase of the disease in population.