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Doctors say it is possible that an Alzheimer's patient could progress to the point that damage from the disease to the centers of the brain that control breathing could cause death, but patients rarely get that far without an infection setting in.
In 1998, Alzheimer's disease was the 12th-leading cause of death in the United States, with 22,725 deaths, and the ninth-leading cause for people 65 and over. That number is expected to increase when statistics for 1999 are released.