Causes and Risk Factors of Alzheimer's Disease - Term Paper Example

Alzheimer's Disease Starting off it is imperative that one analyzes what the disease is all about and also have a look at the demographical factors behind it and also have a look into the people who have been active about the issue of Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a brain disease that takes its name from the German scientist Alois Alzheimer, the first paper that he wrote on Alzheimer's was in 1906 when he performed on a woman named Augaste D. and found certain abnormalities within her brain, Alzheimer had studied the woman for almost 5 years. After the initial work of Alois Alzheimer, scientists from all over the world have worked on the issue and today as a result of the work that has been put in we today have information on all aspects of Alzheimer's. The first thing about Alzheimer's is that it is a progressive disease i.e. once Alzheimer's occurs in a body it keeps on developing for example in the early stages of Alzheimer's a person would only start forgetting recent events or names of people that he or she met recently but as the disease progresses it gets severe and hence as a result the person starts forgetting routine activities as well such as how to brush ones teeth, in the later stages people even forget the names of their family members and also the way to their home, they tend to roam about with no sense of direction or purpose, 1since Alzheimer's is a progressive disease it is a fatal disease as well, people usually die off the infections caused by Alzheimer's within the brain. Alzheimer's is a form of dementia, dementia refers to the loss of memory but it needs to be understood that Alzheimer's is a totally different form of dementia and there are causes that can be cured in certain cases and in certain cases the dementia is irreversible i.e. the loss in memory is permanent and there is no known cure for that particular type of dementia, unfortunately Alzheimer's falls under the category of dementia that cannot be cured and research is being conducted on how to cure Alzheimer's but scientists the world over are still clueless. 2This paper will systematically divide the issue at hand into categories and would tackle each category at a time but in an integrated manner. Prevention: The first and the foremost question that needs to be tackled is of the prevention of this disease, there are basically two age categories that have dementia, one is the age group from 30-65 and basically this type of dementia or Alzheimer's is due to ones genetic conditions or previous family history, this is known as the early onset, people who have dementia in the early on set may be in any stage the early, middle or late. 3The second type is the late on set, in late on set the most important factor is age, early on set occurs in people from 65+ and they may have no history of dementia or Alzheimer's in their family. Research has shown that people who have much more active brains reduce the risks of having Alzheimer's by 30-40%, this research was carried out on people related to religious services and it was found that priests or fathers that involved in activities like chess and other games where their mind was actively used, had lower chances of contracting the disease rather than people who did not. No medications have yet been developed to prevent dementia or Alzheimer's but an active brain certainly reduces the chances, other than this scientists and researchers also recommend that people take care of their general health levels as well to prevent dementia, although no direct link has been found with blood pressure or diabetics it is important that people keep these in check so that the risk of a damage to the brain reduces significantly. Scientists have been able to recognize that Alzheimer's causes the brain cells to die but they have not, as yet, been able to pin point any reason why this occurs and hence prevention can not take place due to this reason but the factors mentioned above do help to a certain degree in helping to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. Causes and Risk Factors: The risk factors that have been mentioned above are age; family history of Alzheimer's and heredity of this age is the most potent factor because at the age of 85 the chances of having Alzheimer's are increased by almost 50%. Apart from these factors research has been able to point at 2 factors that are thought to contribute to Alzheimer's. The first one is the presence of a gene that is known as the Apolipoprotein-e4 also known as APOE-e4. there are 2 more types of the APOE gene and these are APOE-e2 and APOE-e3, every individual inherits at least one form of the APOE gene, those that inherit it from only one parent have a lower risk but those that inherit it from both the parents have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's and that too at an earlier age. Scientists still have not been able to understand how and why APOE-e4 significantly increases the risk of people having Alzheimer's, it is believed that other than the APOE gene there also are at least 12 or more genes that can be identified as a risk factor for Alzheimer's. 4The second risk factor is known as the 'familial Alzheimer's disease' this is so because there are certain genes that directly cause Alzheimer's but these genes have been found in less than 5% of cases that are reported world wide and hence is not a major cause for Alzheimer's. Apart from these it is also recommended that one keeps a check on the intake of alcohol as well as tobacco levels because these cause damage to the brain as well as the neural system, a healthy heart also reduces the risk of having Alzheimer's significantly and the general healthy aging practices should be followed to ensure low risk levels. The beta-amyloid protein has been also identified as a cause of Alzheimer's because it deposits onto the brain and causes brain shrinkage and continuous reduction in the number of active brain cells and hence this is one of the leading causes of Alzheimer's.5 Symptoms: As one grows older changes in memory are bound to take place but this should not be confused with Alzheimer's for people with Alzheimer's not only forget they also have problems in learning and thinking as well as analyzing.6 The symptoms for Alzheimer's include forgetting information that has been recently acquired and being unable to recall it later. People with Alzheimer's have difficulty in performing day to day routine tasks for example a simple task like brushing ones teeth, they might forget the order that needs to be followed and might place the tooth paste after brushing their teeth. People with Alzheimer's forget simple words and have difficulty finding an alternative and hence their speech becomes incoherent. Disorientation with regards to time and place are a common feature for people with Alzheimer's, they might not be able to figure out where they are and how they got there. People with Alzheimer's also have problems with higher level thinking for example they might find an easy math question very difficult to solve. A person with Alzheimer's places things in unusual places for example a person might place his or her cell phone in the freezer. Mood swings are also a common feature of people with Alzheimer's they might be laughing one moment and crying the very next with no apparent reason. The whole personality of a person can change, for example a person having Alzheimer's can become extremely fearful of a family member or he or she might become very dependent on one person with in the family. People with Alzheimer's have difficulty in making decisions, even decisions that need little thinking, for example a person with Alzheimer's might wear several levels of clothing on a hot summer day or may give away large chunks of money to a beggar.7 Research: Since Alzheimer's effects millions of people all over the world, 400,000 Americans are effected by the disease every year, the disease is being researched upon vigorously but to date no one has been able to break through and pin point one single cause or come up with a medicine that can prevent or restrict Alzheimer's. Through research vaccines and medicines have been developed that stop or reduce the amount of the beta-amyloid protein from depositing onto the brain and hence this significantly reduces the risk of having Alzheimer's. High doses of vitamin E are also been administered to patients who already have the Alzheimer's disease and this tends to slow down the rate at which Alzheimer progresses. Other than these there has been no major break through as with regards to the disease but a significant amount of money is being invested in the research of what causes the disease and how it can be prevented or cured but to date we are still clue less about this potent fatal disease. References 1. Maurer, Konrad (2003). Alzheimer's: The life of a physician and the career of a disease. Columbia: Columbia University Press. 2. Sherik, David (2003). The forgetting: Alzheimer's portrait of an epidemic. Anchor company. 3. (2007). Dementia UK: Full Report. London: Alzheimer's society. 4. Mace, Nancy (1991) The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Person's with Alzheimer's Disease 5. Kachaturian, Zaven (1992) Alzheimer's Disease: New Treatment Strategies 6. Soukup, James (1996) Alzheimer's Disease: A Guide to Diagnosis, Treatment and Management 7. Reisberg, Bary (1983) Alzheimer's Disease Read More