Alzheimer's Disease Patients

Alzheimer's Disease Patients
Alzheimer's disease, also referred to as AD, is a disease that affects the brain. The main effect of this disease is impairment of memory. It is also characterized by problems with reasoning, perception and language. According to many scientists, Alzheimer's disease is caused by increased production of beta-amyloid protein which results to deal of nerve cells in the brain.

At the age of 70, many people face a real risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. About 50 per cent of all people who are above the age of 85 suffer from this condition. This is why many people take this disease as a normal process of ageing. It is also surprising that some people are able to live past their 100th birthday without ever suffering from this debilitating disease.

As the population becomes older and older, cases of Alzheimer's disease are becoming more and more common. Ten per cent of all people who are above the age of 65 are suffering from the disease. All this data shows a rather clear correlation between increase in number of cases and age progression. This is why scientists expected that by the year 2050, 14 million Americans would be living with the disease.

Younger Alzheimer's disease patients get this condition because of mutant genes in their DNA. The gene mutation factor increases the risks of one getting the disease by more than 50 per cent. Late onset of Alzheimer's disease cases is also affected by the genetic risks among these patients. The chromosome 19 contains a gene whose structure greatly affects the amount of risks one is exposed to relating to occurrence of the Alzheimer's disease.

High blood pressure and diabetes are some other risk factors for this disease. Elevated blood cholesterol can increase likelihood of the Alzheimer's disease occurring. People who have completed less than eight years of education are also exposed to a higher risk of this disease.

Although these factors can greatly determine the possibility of the Alzheimer's disease occurring, this is not to say that there is any real danger of eventually getting the disease even in old age. Scientists who happen to be proponents of the amyloid hypothesis often reinforce this assertion.

Many patients go through a combative demeanor in the first six months of the disease. The patient can become psychotic and will talk and talk and scream and scream. Fear seems to conquer these patients; they always fear that someone is trying to kill them. Alzheimer's disease patients lose mental stability completely.