What is Alzheimer's disease?
Alzheimer's Disease is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain now considered a leading cause of dementia. Alzheimer's disease was first described by the German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906, it affects an estimated 2.5 to 3 million people in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the number of individuals with this condition is estimated to rise to over 1 million by the year 2010. Percentage rates (cases per 100 individuals of 65 years and over) worldwide vary considerably between 0.6 in China to 10.3 in Massachusetts, United States. The incidence of the disease increases with advancing age, but there is no evidence that it is caused by the aging process.
| "Patients suffering Alzheimer's disease lose nervous cells in
parts of the brain involved in cognitive processes." |
Cause and Diagnosis
The average life expectancy of people with the disease is between five and ten years, although many patients now survive 15 years or more due to improvements in care and medical treatment. The cause of this disease has not been discovered, although palliative therapy is available. The ability of doctors to diagnose Alzheimer's disease has improved in recent years, but this remains a process of elimination and final diagnosis can be confirmed only by post-mortem.
Alzheimer's patients show nerve cell loss in the parts of the brain associated with cognitive functioning. The hallmark lesions of Alzheimer's disease include the formation of abnormal proteins. Alzheimer's disease is also characterized by profound deficits in the brain's neurotransmitters which has been linked with memory function.
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