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Dementia costs, from medicines to nursing homes, cost the U.S. $157 billion to $215 billion a year, more than heart disease or cancer, a RAND study released late Wednesday says.

A study published April 3 in the New England Journal of Medicine that tracked elderly adults found dementia can represent a significant financial burden not only on individual families but society at large. Researchers determined the annual costs associated with a patient with dementia were between $41,689 and $56,290.

Out of the total annual cost, $11 billion of which is paid for by Medicare, the study found. Until now, the most-cited approximation of the dementia's annual cost and prevalence came from an advocacy group, the Alzheimer's Association.

"The bottom line here is the same: Dementia is among the most costly diseases to society, and we need to address this if we're going to come to terms with the cost to the Medicare and Medicaid system," said Matthew Baumgart, senior director of public policy at the Alzheimer's Association.

Dementia's direct costs are $109 billion a year in 2010 dollars. It is far greater than heart disease which totaled $102 billion and $77 billion for cancer.

"The informal care costs are substantially higher for dementia than for cancer or heart conditions," said Michael Hurd, a RAND economist who led the study.

"Most people have understood the enormous toll in terms of human suffering and cost," but the new comparisons to heart disease and cancer may surprise some, said Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the Institute on Aging.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Dementia also can result from a stroke or other diseases. It is rapidly growing in prevalence as the population ages.

"Alzheimer's disease has a burden that exceeds many of these other illnesses," especially because of how long people live with it and need care, he said.

The study it was sponsored by the government's National Institute on Aging.