New tracker finds 5.4M likely dementia cases

More than 5.4 million Medicare recipients likely have Alzheimer's or another type of dementia, according to researchers developing a first-ever national surveillance system for tracking the dreaded neurological conditions.

Why it matters: The lack of a widely accepted monitoring tool has made it hard to get a fix on the prevalence of dementia and to direct spending on care, even as science makes it easier to clinically diagnose symptoms and slow cognitive decline.