What is alzheimer's disease?

Dementia, Alzheimer, Diagnosis, Treatments

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting around 500,000 people in the UK. This information sheet outlines the symptoms and causes of Alzheimer's disease, and describes what treatments are currently available.

Alzheimer's disease, first described by the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer, is a physical disease affecting the brain. During the course of the disease 'plaques' and 'tangles' develop in the structure of the brain, leading to the death of brain cells.

We also know that people with Alzheimer's have a shortage of some important chemicals in their brain. These chemicals are involved with the transmission of messages within the brain.

Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, which means that gradually, over time, more parts of the brain are damaged. As this happens, the symptoms become more severe.

Symptoms

People in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease may experience lapses of memory and have problems finding the right words. As the disease progresses they may:

Become confused, and frequently forget the names of people, places, appointments and recent events.
Experience mood swings. They may feel sad or angry. They may feel scared and frustrated by their increasing memory loss.
Become more withdrawn due either to a loss of confidence or to communication problems.

As the disease progresses, people with Alzheimer's will need more support from those who care for them. Eventually they will need help with all their daily activities.

While there are some common symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, it is important to remember that everyone is unique. No two cases of Alzheimer's are likely to be the same. People always experience illness in their own individual way.

What causes Alzheimer's disease?

So far, no one single factor has been identified as a cause for Alzheimer's disease. It is likely that a combination of factors, including age, genetic inheritance, environmental factors, diet and overall general health, are responsible.

Age

Age is the greatest risk factor for dementia. Dementia affects one in 20 people over the age of 65 and one in five over the age of 80. However, Alzheimer's is not restricted to elderly people: there are over 18,000 people under the age of 65 with dementia in the UK.

Genetic inheritance

Many people fear that they may inherit Alzheimer's disease. Scientists are currently investigating the genetic background to Alzheimer's.

We do know that there are a few families where there is a very clear inheritance of the disease from one generation to the next. This is often in families where the disease appears relatively early in life.

In the vast majority of cases, however, the effect of inheritance seems to be small. If a parent or other relative has Alzheimer's disease, your own chances of developing the disease are only a little higher than if there were no cases of Alzheimer's in the immediate family.

Environmental factors

The environmental factors that may contribute to the onset of Alzheimer's disease have yet to be identified. A few years ago, there were concerns that exposure to aluminium might cause Alzheimer's disease. However, these fears have largely been discounted.

Other factors

Because of the difference in their read more