HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — A new estimate by the Alzheimer’s Association finds that about 8,700 hundred people in Horry County have Alzheimer’s disease and that most of them are 65 or older.
Dr. Paul Richardson, the chief medical officer at Conway Medical Center, said he sees a lot of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients because Horry County is a retirement community drawing in new residents who might be dealing with the memory-loss disease.
A study released in 2023 by the Alzheimer’s Association estimated that 9.2% of Horry County’s 65-or-older population had Alzheimer’s disease. The statewide rate was 11.5%.
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As Horry County’s population has grown in recent years, there is a majority over the age of retirement.
“As a primary care doctor, I have taken care of many patients over the years with that disease,” Richardson said.
“Normally, when you have Alzheimer’s, what you see is a loss of short-term memory so that person has difficulty laying down new memory tracks if you will,” Richardson said.