Frank Gluck

Alzheimer’s disease caregivers, usually elderly spouses or working adult children, face higher risk of physical and mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and heart problems. Stressed caregivers are 63 percent more likely to die within four years compared to non-caregivers.

Experts estimate that as many as 55,000 Southwest Floridians have diagnosed or undiagnosed Alzheimer's disease. To better understand the disease's impact on the region, The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida, interviewed experts on the disease and families now coping with it.

Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is hitting older communities such as Southwest Florida hard, overwhelming retirement savings and loading more costs onto the region's already strained medical system, a five-month News-Press investigation found.