Alzheimer’s By : Dylan Smith

Alzheimer's Disease Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type (SDAT) or simply Alzheimer's, is the most common form of Dementia. Age Advancing age is the number one risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease. One out of eight people over the age of 65 has Alzheimer’s disease, and almost one out of every two people over the age of 85 has Alzheimer’s. The probability of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s nearly doubles every five years after age 65.

Symptoms Symptoms include confusion, irritability and aggression, mood swings, language breakdown, long-term memory loss, and the general withdrawal of the sufferer as their senses decline. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death.

Area of Nervous System Affected In Alzheimer’s disease, neurons lose synapsal contact, die, and shrivel up. Biologically, the most evident symptom is the brain atrophies and the vacuoles enlarge. The atrophy starts at the entorhinal cortex (a part of the cerebral cortex that touches the hippocampus) then proceeds into the hippocampus and into the cerebrum. This explains why memory is the first thing affected. There are also detectable changes in the levels of several neurotransmitters. There are decreases in serotonin, acetylcholine (ACh), norepinephrine, and somatostatin, but an increase in glutamate. From diagnosis, an individual will live 3 to 20 years, 8 on average. In this time, the individual loses the ability to remember things, perform daily tasks, and eventually move or speak. If the patient does not die from something else, the brain breakdown will eventually cause death.

Who’s Affected By The Disease People over the age of 65 are most frequently affected at which point the condition is labelled ‘late onset’. The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease increases with age and by the age of 85 years nearly half of all people are affected by it

Prognosis There is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease. The average life expectancy for someone with Alzheimer's is 8 to 10 years after the onset of symptoms. However, individuals with Alzheimer's have been known to live up to 20 years after the first signs emerge.

Treatments; Cure Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease.

Website For Information ase ase es/f/faq_whoaffected.htm

Extra Info Alzheimer's disease: a progressive form of prehensile dementia that is similar to senile dementia except that it usually starts in the 40s or 50s.