Alzheimer's disease

Thesis Statement

Alzheimer is a disease that is affecting many people around the world in the current era. The paper provides the research on current conditions and protective measures taken for Alzheimer's disease. It also provides the statistics related to the demographics of the disease.

Introduction

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an incurable, progressive dementia characterized by cognitive deficits in language, speech, memory, and the ability to perform motor skills. It causes significant impairment in social and occupational functioning that presents serious difficulties to the patient and family members. Disease progression is variable, but AD, due to the associated neurodegenerative complications, is always fatal. Changes in brain structure and function characteristic of AD include amyloid plaques (i.e., deposits of ß-amyloid protein), neurofibrillary tangles (i.e., abnormal collections of twisted protein threads inside neurons), synapse deterioration, and brain cell death; particularly in the frontal and temporal lobes.

Production of neurotransmitters (e.g., acetylcholine) is decreased (Lockhartm, Mitchell, p.389-403). The etiology of AD is unknown, but various factors may contribute to the pathogenesis of AD; these include aberrant iron deposition, oxidative stress, mitochondrial insufficiency, calcium homeostasis, neuro-inflammatory responses, cerebrovascular ischemia, and altered glucose and insulin metabolism. In addition, mutations in genes that code for certain proteins have been identified as causing AD, including genes for the proteins amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin 1 (PSEN1), presenilin 2 (PSEN2), and apolipoprotein E (APOE) (Mercier, Lefèvre, p.3199-3204).

History

Alzheimer's disease is named after the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer (1864 - 1915) the disease first described scientifically in 1906. This severe neuropsychiatric disease has a loss of brain tissue and changes in the cerebrum with a loss of brain tissue result, usually begins after age 65 of age. But there are also a few cases where the disease occurs much earlier. Women are affected more often than men. One reason for this is that women live longer than men in general (Hansen, Gartlehner, p.211-225).

Epidemiology

According to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), dementia is defined as an acquired disorder of memory and thinking ability, which is so pronounced that in professional and / or personal activities of daily living are impaired. The disturbance must be according to this classification system for at least six months and are independent of a delirium, which is an acute confusional state and re-formable to be (Grossberg, Sadowsky, p.651-660).

This is the most common cause of dementia in people over 65 years of age. It is estimated that the world is suffering from Alzheimer's disease about 30 million people in Poland, about 200 thousand. Due to aging populations in industrialized countries, it is assumed that the number of patients to triple by 2050. The onset usually occurs after age 65. Before age 65 of Alzheimer's disease accounts for less than 1% of cases. Epidemiological studies find that the incidence of Alzheimer's disease increases with age - from the age of 65 years says it is in about 14% and after 80 years of age in about 40% (Grossberg, p.573-584). After 85 years of age increases the incidence of vascular ...