ALZEIHMERS

ALZHEIMERS?
• Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological brain disorder.
• Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of
dementia, a group of disorders that impairs mental
functioning.
• Alzheimer’s is progressive and irreversible.
• Memory loss is one of the earliest symptoms, along
with a gradual decline of other intellectual and
thinking abilities, called cognitive functions, and
changes in personality or behavior.
 Cause of Alzheimer’s
• Scientists generally agree that there is unlikely to be a single
clear “cause” of Alzheimer’s.
• It is more likely the result of a combination of inter-related
factors, including genetic factors, which are passed along
family lines of inheritance, and environmental influences,
which range from previous head trauma to educational level to
one’s experiences early in life.
• A growing body of research is also helping to identify various
“lifestyle factors,” such as dietary habits, high blood pressure
and high cholesterol, which may influence one’s risk of
Alzheimer’s disease.
• Alzheimer’s develops as a result of a complex cascade of
biological processes that take place over many years inside the
brain..
 Who is affect!
• 35 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s disease.
• 5.3 million people in the US have Alzheimer’s disease.
• Every 70 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer’s disease.
• Alzheimer’s is the fifth leading cause of death in people 65 and older.
• Death from Alzheimer’s rose 46.1% from 2000 to 2006 .
• 54% of the U.S. population has been touched in some way by
Alzheimer’s disease.
• Approximately 454,000 people will develop Alzheimer’s in 2010.
• At current rates, 19 million Americans will have Alzheimer’s by the
year 2050.
 Symptom for Alzheimer’s
• Difficulty performing otherwise familiar tasks, such as preparing a meal, opening a car window or
using a household appliance can be signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
• Memory loss that affects job skills. It is normal to occasionally forget an assignment or a colleagues
phone number, but it is not normal to frequently forget such things or to become so confused that you
are unable to concentrate and cannot perform your job functions.
• Problems using language may be a sign of Alzheimer’s disease. Although it is normal to forget
words, people with Alzheimer’s disease may become hard to understand and may substitute unusual
words or phrases for forgotten ones. A person with Alzheimer’s disease may appear to have become
less fluent and may also have difficulty writing coherently.
• Disorientation to time and place. It is normal to sometimes lose track of time or to become lost, but a
person with Alzheimer’s can forget what year it is and can become lost on familiar streets and not be
able to find their way home.
• Loss of good judgment may also be a warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease. This could take the form
of wearing inappropriate clothing (e.g. pajamas worn outside in winter) or suddenly giving away large
amounts of money.
• Problems with abstract thinking. It is normal to make a mistake balancing a checkbook, but people
with Alzheimer’s disease may forget the meaning of numbers or what to do with them.
• Misplacing things. It is normal to misplace things occasionally, but putting things in unusual places,
like an iron in the refrigerator or a watch in the sugar bowl are warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
• Rapid mood swings such as unexplained anger or going from apparent calm to sudden crying can be
warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
• Personality changes. As people age, their personalities may also gradually change, but for a person
with Alzheimer’s disease the changes in personality are often sudden and dramatic.
• Loss of initiative, sleeping longer than usual, and loss of interestin the usual activities can be signs
of depression, but are also warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
 Stages of Alzheimer’s
• -Stage 1: Normal
• Mentally healthy person
• -Stage 2: Normal aged forgetfulness
• Persons over the age of 65 experience subjective complaints of cognitive and/or functional
difficulties
• -Stage 3: Mild cognitive impairment
• The capacity to perform executive functions also becomes compromised. Commonly, for
persons who are still working, job performance may decline.
• -Stage 4: Mild Alzheimer’s disease
• The most common functioning deficit in these patients is a decreased ability to manage
instrumental (complex) activities of daily life.(ability to manage finances and to prepare meals
for guests etc.)
• - Stage 5: Moderate Alzheimer’s disease
• This is manifest in a decrement in the ability to choose proper clothing to wear for the weather
conditions and/or for the daily circumstances (occasions).
• -Stage 6: Moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease
• At this stage, the ability to perform basic activities of daily life becomes compromised.
• -Stage 7: Severe Alzheimer’s disease
• At this stage, AD patients require continuous assistance with basic activities of daily life for
survival.
 Stage 6

Stage 7

Stage 5
 Alzheimer’s Diagnostic Tests

• Medical history
• An interview or questionnaire to identify past medical problems.
• Physical examination
• Includes evaluations of hearing and sight, heart and lungs, as well as
temperature, blood pressure and pulse readings.
• Neuropsychological testing
• Doctors use a variety of tools to assess memory, problem-solving,
attention, vision-motor coordination and abstract thinking, such as
performing simple calculations in your head.
• Brain-imaging scan
• MRI and CT scans look at the structure of the brain and are used to rule
out brain tumors or blood clots in the brain as the reason for symptoms.
 Treatment for Alzheimer’s
• Drugs used to treat people with Alzheimer’s fall into two
broad categories–drugs to treat cognitive symptoms, such as
memory problems and other mental deficits of Alzheimer’s,
and drugs to treat behavioral symptoms that do not respond to
non-pharmacological behavioral-management approaches.
• These drugs might include a variety of types of drugs broadly
categorized as anti-agitation drugs.
 Drugs
Approved for Alzheimer's
• Namenda®
Generic Name: memantine

• Razadyne, Reminyl®
Generic Name: galantamine

• Exelon®
Generic Name: rivastigmine

• Aricept®
Generic Name: donepezil

• Cognex®*
Generic Name: tacrine
 Famous people with Alzheimer’s
• Tom Fears, professional football player
and coach
• Ronald Reagan, 40th President of USA
• Bill Quackenbush, professional hockey
player
• Betty Schwartz, Olympic gold medal
winner in track events
TOM FEARS

Betty Schwartz

Bill Quackenbush

Ronald
Reagan
http://www.alzinfo.org/