Keith Fargo, director of the scientific program at the Alzheimer's Association, said that the study highlighted the need for support and research into treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

　　"It's the only cause of death in the top 10 that does not have a way to prevent it or stop it," Fargo told ABC News.

　　CDC researchers did not study why there was an increase but reported the result of the phenomenon might be that more people were surviving to old age. They found from 1999 to 2005 the greatest increase in the death rate related to Alzheimer's disease was in people over the age of 85.

　　Fargo said he was discouraged to see in the report that 24.9 percent of people with Alzheimer's disease were dying at home rather than in a medical facility.

　　"Before you die people become completely bed bound," said Fargo. "It requires an intense level of caregiving to the end."

　　Fargo said the fact that more people were dying at home indicated that people did not have the resources to get appropriate help at long-term care facilities like nursing homes. Fargo said providing that level of care could burden the caregivers both emotionally and physically. The CDC estimates caregivers provided 18.2 billion hours of unpaid care to dementia(痴呆)patients in 2015.

　　"The caregivers for Alzheimer's disease have $9 billion more in Medicare claims of their own, in addition to the claims of their loved ones," Fargo said. "Caregiving is so stressful that it causes a lot of physical suffering."

　　The CDC researchers point out that increasing rates of Alzheimer's disease will mean more people need support to care and treat these patients.

"Until Alzheimer's can be prevented, slowed, or stopped, caregiving for persons with advanced Alzheimer's will remain a demanding task," the authors wrote. "An increasing number of Alzheimer's deaths coupled with an increasing number of patients dying at home suggests that there is an increasing number of caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's. It is likely that these caregivers might benefit from interventions such as education, and case management that can reduce the potential burden of caregiving."