Alzheimers Disease History, Cause And Economic Impact

Alzheimer is one of the most frequent cause of dementia. It was first documented in 1906 by a German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer, who noticed the now well-known characteristics of the disease irregular mass of protein (i.e., beta-amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of protein fibers (i.e., neurofibrillary tangles) in the brain of a woman who had experienced memory loss, troubles, and unpredictable behavior. An crucial breakthrough was the invention of the photomicrograph in the early 1900s by Solomon Carter Fuller, an African American psychiatrist; this important innovation provided a technique for taking images through the lens of a microscope allowing visualization of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.

Ever since its first description, Alzheimers disease has gone from a hardly described disorder to one of the most common disabling diseases among older adults. The increasing proportion of older adults in the U.S. population reinforces the urgent need for prevention and therapy of all chronic diseases including Alzheimers disease. In most people, cognitive health and functionality remain stable over the lifetime, with only a gradual decline in short-term memory and processing speed. For others, on the other hand, the decline in cognitive function progresses to a more serious state of cognitive impairment or into a variety of types of dementia. Mild cognitive impairment is characterized by difficulties with memory, language, or other vital cognitive capabilities that are severe enough being noticed by other people and are indicated on cognitive tests, but are usually not severe enough to interfere with every day life. Dementia is characterized by progressive global deterioration of cognitive abilities in a number of domains which include memory and at least one additional area learning, orientation, vocabulary, comprehension, and judgment severe enough to interfere with day-to-day life.

The diagnosis of Alzheimers disease is difficult and often imprecise, but its significance is without question. Depending on the diagnostic and pathologic standards employed, Alzheimers disease accounts for 60-80% of all dementia cases. As many as five million Americans may currently possess the disorder, and the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment is even greater. Furthermore, the number of people affected by Alzheimers disease or mild cognitive impairment is expected to rise considerably with the aging of the baby boomer generation. Alzheimers disease is the sixth primary cause of death in the U.S. and the fifth primary cause of death in Americans age sixty five years and older. Alzheimers disease along with other dementias cost greater than $148 billion in the U.S.A annually, and these conditions also exact a substantial toll on sufferers and caregivers with regards to financial costs, and anxiety.

To date, numerous studies have attempted to describe the etiology and factors related with the risk for development and progression of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimers disease, generating a number of theories on possible risk factors and therapies. Age is the strongest known risk factor for Alzheimers disease; most individuals with the late-onset form of the disease receive the diagnosis after age 60. An early-onset familial form also happens, but it's rare. Genetic, cardiovascular, and lifestyle factors also have been implicated.