According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the world's population of people 60 years and older will double by 2050. The Alzheimer's Society states that age is the biggest risk factor for developing dementia. The WHO states that there are currently 55 million people worldwide living with dementia. It's estimated that in the United States there are currently more than 6 million people living with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and related dementias. By 2050 this number is projected to rise to almost 13 million. In the near future we will have substantially higher numbers of people diagnosed with dementia and AD. There will be larger numbers of symptomatic people who will be misdiagnosed with AD due to the inaccuracies in current diagnostic tests. Even more concerning, there are large numbers of people who will never be diagnosed and treated for reversible causes of dementia due to lack of access to the healthcare system.

Diagnosis of dementia is both inadequate and for a lot of people inaccessible. People who visit their Primary Care Physicians with mild symptoms often do not meet the criteria to be referred for tests and so can experience long delays before they are diagnosed. Even more troubling, the Alzheimer’s Association reports that in the community setting, 50-70% of symptomatic patients are incorrectly diagnosed with AD and that number is reduced to 25%-30% misdiagnosed in specialized memory clinics. The Association faults the inconsistency of routine cognitive screening and the lack of easily accessible, and accurate assessment tools.