Alzheimer’s Disease: Basic Facts

How are Alzheimer’s and dementia connected? Alzheimer's disease is a disorder of the brain resulting in a progressive decline in intellectual and physical abilities that can interfere with the normal style of life, and it’s a form of dementia. This disease is acquired with age and the length can vary from half a year to the rest of the one’s life. The older population is the vulnerable group, as they are affected by Alzheimer’s disease most often.
A lot is known about Alzheimer’s most typical symptoms. They include gradual decline in mental abilities (trouble planning, remembering); decline in physical abilities follows, resulting in the person losing the job and not being able to perform everyday tasks. Alzheimer’s patients also experience problems with judgment, socializing, mood and personal qualities.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is progressive, meaning the condition does not improve with time. There is no cure or effective treatment. The disease may be unnoticeable at first, but as it develops, Alzheimer’s patients  have trouble reasoning, thinking clearly and functioning as they did before. It may also be hard to concentrate attention, memorize even the smallest amounts of information and even speak. When the disease is mild, people suffering from it can still perform some tasks, but supervision and help are required in daily life (paying bills, shopping). Those with more serious forms of Alzheimer’s and dementia need full-time supervision and care, as they can do almost nothing without help. According to the statistics, Alzheimer’s is on the first place by the number of deaths after heart disease, cancer and stroke. Commonly, people with Alzheimer’s have 8 years left, at the maximum.

It has been estimated that from two to four million of the US citizens have AD, but this number is likely to grow as the population ages and fewer people have more than one child. The predictions are: by the middle of the XXI century around 14 million Americans will have developed this disease. The statistical data speaks for itself: the disease is likely to occur in 3% of people from 65 to 74; the number grows as the age increases – 19% of 75-84 year-olds will probably have AD; as for those over 85 – 47% of them are likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Another surprising finding is that more women that men get Alzheimer’s, but this can probably be attributed to the generally bigger number of the female population.

It’s very challenging for many people to recognize Alzheimer’s disease and not confuse it with other common forms of dementia. Almost all types of dementia have symptoms that are quite similar, which makes the process of establishing the real cause difficult.

The only reliable method to finally diagnose AD is examination of the patient’s brain tissue, which gives the full picture of changes that happened. However, the difficulty lies in the fact that such an examination can be performed only after the person’s death. Any other way of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease is bound to be an educated guess. Still, according to the National Institute on Aging, experts can diagnose the illness with 90% certainty, which is reliable enough. The following methods may be used in the process of diagnosing:

•    Assessment of the patient’s condition: general health examination, medical history, abilities
•    Blood tests, urine samples, spinal fluid tests carried out in the laboratory
•    Cognitive tests aimed at measuring memory and a variety of mental skills
•    Brain scanning

While this condition is by far the most common among the population of the United States, other kinds of dementia may occur in the same patient. These illnesses can be caused by traumas or previous diseases. Here are some examples of other forms of dementia:

Parkinson's disease. The first symptoms of Parkinson's are: stiff limbs, impaired speech, trouble walking and controlling muscle contraction, tremor. As the illness progresses dementia may be the secondary symptom.

Vascular dementia. This condition is caused by the decreased blood flow to the brain. As blood vessels get constricted, less oxygen is delivered with blood, which leads to dementia. This can happen after brain hemorrhage, stroke, or a number of artery-damaging conditions (systemic lupus erythematosus, temporal arteritis). Scenarios of developing vascular dementia can vary: it can be fast and sudden, or worsen each time a mini-infarct occurs.
Huntington's disease. It’s a rare hereditary type of disorder marked by involuntary jerky movements or spasms, impaired speech and motor activity. Eventually it becomes a severe kind of dementia.

Frontotemporal dementia (Pick's disease and other kinds). Brain scanning helped scientists establish, that this kind of dementia occurs when certain areas of the brain shrink (front and side). These particular areas of the brain are responsible for social behavior, problem-solving and judgment, so when this kind of dementia occurs, the person affected may display frequent moods swings, inappropriate behavior and language impairment.

(DLB) Dementia with Lewy bodies. People suffering from this kind of dementia have abnormal proteins that occur in the nerve cells of their brain. The symptoms include hallucinations, gradual loss of orientation, movement and control over limbs, as well as mental decline along with lethargy. Lewy bodies are believed to be responsible for additionally causing diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

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