ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) – Did you know that Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States — more than prostate cancer and breast cancer combined? That’s according to recently released facts and figures by the Alzheimer’s Association.

Nationally, one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia — up 68 percent from over the last decade.

According to St. Louis Alzheimer’s Association Outreach Director Stephanie Rohlfs-Young there are about 110-thousand Missourians and 210-thousand Illinois residents currently living with Alzheimer’s.

But it’s not just seniors who are impacted by the disease, so is our health care system.

“In Missouri there are about 309-thousand caregivers providing 351-million hours of unpaid care which is valued at more than $4.3-million dollars, and in Illinois that is nearly double,” explained Rohlfs-Young.

Over the next twenty years she expects those numbers to triple.

One sliver line, Rohlfs-Young says is diagnosing the disease is becoming easier, however researchers still have not found a cause or a cure for Alzheimer’s.