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Alzheimer's Disease

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Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the recognized type of dementia, although the exact trigger

is unknown. AD is genetic, with more than 30 genes identified to be running in families

(Bjørkløf et al., 2019). Dominantly three genes are passed down from parent to child, causing the

child to develop Alzheimer's Disease. Dementia is one of the most common diseases affecting

senior citizens, and Alzheimer's Disease affects individuals' cognitive functioning by distorting

the brain cells through shrinking, which significantly deters mental capacity and functioning.

The brain cells begin to shrink progressively through the distortion of some brain parts such as

the entorhinal cortex and Hippocampus. In the advanced stages of the disease, the brain cells

become shrunk significantly.

Today the disease is diagnosed as cognitive function and loss of episodic memory, which

later leads to visuospatial abilities and language deficiency. Alzheimer's disease has become a

health problem worldwide, with approximately six million Americans and over 55 million living

with the disease. During the last stage of illness, the patient encounters several issues like

difficulty in movement, side effects associated with medications, and pain. Drug increases

confusion and fall risks (Alzheimer's Association Report, 2017). Upon advancing the disease,

there is significant failure and deterioration of the body's defense mechanism, leading to an

influx of infections and conditions such as urinary tract infections.

Risk Factors

The prevalence and emergence of Alzheimer's Disease have been attributed to various

risk factors that have a significantly growing number due to the changing lifestyle habits of the

current generation. The key risk factors comprise genes and acquired risk factors.
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AD and Cerebrovascular diseases overlap, increasing the risk of dementia. The overlap

causes changes such as vasculopathy, large and small ischemia cortical infarcts, hemorrhagic.

Also, the cerebral white matter changes, affecting the patients' health. Hypertension increases the

risk of developing AD, primarily if present at middle age, it affects cognitive performance,

which becomes weaker with age (Alzheimer's Association Report, 2017). Hypertension causes

changes in the vascular walls simulating cerebral ischemia, resulting in the accumulation of AB

and APP genes. AD patients with Dyslipidemia record 10% higher cholesterol levels than AD-

free patients (Silva et al., 2019). The higher levels affect the blood-brain barrier.

Smoking, environmental and genes are protective risk factors associated with dementia.

Corder et al. (1993) reported the first generic factor. In his study, 60-80 % of AD patients were

related to genetic factors. Mutation of genes PSEN1, APP, PSEN2 cause AD at the early stage,

while late-stage AD is caused by polymorphism. Smoking causes oxidative damage, which

results in cerebrovascular diseases increasing the risk of developing AD (Alzheimer's

Association Report, 2017). Physical activity reduces 30-50% in cognitive decline. In older

people, exercise training positively affects cognitive functions. Environmental factors such as

metals and some nutrients are co-factors related to dementia. Metals include aluminum, iron,

zinc, copper, while Nutrient is mainly serum vitamin D. vitamin D is lower in AD patient women

than women without dementia (Chen et al., 2009).

Greatly affected Communities

The disease mainly affects the elderly population worldwide, although the disease occurs

earlier in families with genetic records. In most countries, AD is a hidden health issue that is

misunderstood in older people. Lately, Western countries have experienced a rise of 1-3% of the

disease among people aged 60-64 years. After the age of 85, women have a higher AD incidence
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compared to men. The protective effect of pre-menopause explains AD incidences in women and

the cardiovascular disease that claimed the life of men. Due to the age, some patients end up

being treated at homes while the most significant population end up in nursing homes raising the

Medicare to 50 billion (Chen et al., 2009).

To improve the quality of life of an AD patient, risk-acquired factors need to be closely

monitored to prevent cognitive decline. Since there is no drug intervention to modify AD,

Protective risk factors need to be made aware and strongly encouraged to the patients to reduce

the development of this disease. Effective treatment plans and intensive care from palliative

specialists are necessary to help in monitoring their daily performance and actively assisting

patients with Alzheimer's disease.

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References

Alzheimer's Association Report, A. (2017). 2017 Alzheimer's disease facts and

figures. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 13(4), 325-373.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2017.02.001

Bjørkløf, G., Helvik, A., Ibsen, T., Telenius, E., Grov, E., & Eriksen, S. (2019). Balancing the

struggle to live with dementia: a systematic meta-synthesis of coping. BMC

Geriatrics, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-019-1306-9

Chen, J., Lin, K., & Chen, Y. (2009). Risk Factors for Dementia. Journal Of The Formosan

Medical Association, 108(10), 754-764. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0929-6646(09)60402-2

Silva, M., Loures, C., Alves, L., de Souza, L., Borges, K., & Carvalho, M. (2019). Alzheimer's

disease: risk factors and potentially protective measures. Journal Of Biomedical

Science, 26(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12929-019-0524-y