Alzheimer's Disease research continues to find promising treatments. This debilitating disorder seems to run in families, and work is even underway to develop a vaccine. The U.S. Administration on Aging states that Alzheimer's Disease "is characterized by a gradual loss of memory, decline in the ability to perform routine tasks, disorientation, difficulty in learning, loss of language skills, impaired judgment and ability to plan, and personality changes. Over time, these changes become so severe that they interfere with an individual’s daily functioning, resulting eventually in death." It is a type of dementia that strikes older adults. The term dementia is a broader term that refers to a group of similar age-related disorders that result in diminished cognitive functioning. Alzheimer's Disease is sometimes referred to as a pre-senile dementia, since it often strikes adults before the ravages of age have set-in. The term "senility" is rarely used today, but it refers to memory loss and dementia that were once considered a normal part of growing old.
The World Health Organization describes dementia as:
a syndrome due to disease of the brain, usually of a chronic or progressive nature, in which there is disturbance of multiple higher cortical functions, including memory, thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language, and judgement. Consciousness is not clouded. Impairments of cognitive function are commonly accompanied, and occasionally preceded, by deterioration in emotional control, social behavior, or motivation. This syndrome occurs in Alzheimer's disease, in cerebrovascular disease, and in other conditions primarily or secondarily affecting the brain.
In assessing the presence or absence of a dementia, special care should be taken to avoid false-positive identification: motivational or emotional factors, particularly depression, in addition to motor slowness and general physical frailty, rather than loss of intellectual capacity, may account for failure to perform.
Dementia produces an appreciable decline in intellectual functioning, and usually some interference with personal activities of daily living, such as washing, dressing, eating, personal hygiene, excretory and toilet activities. (World Health Organization ICD-10, 1992)
Tacrine (Cognex), Donepezil (Aricept), and Rivastigamine (Exelon) are drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Alzheimer's Dementia. These medications are thought to work by increasing the concentration of acetylcholine in the brain and nervous system by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase. They are most effective in the early stages of Alzheimers. These medications may also help other dementias.
A similar disorder, Pick's Dementia, is also known as Dementia with Lewy Bodies. "The changes in the brain cells (Lewy bodies) were first described by Frederich Lewy a colleague of Alois Alzheimer. These changes were first recognised in Parkinson’s disease where they are mostly restricted to one area of the brain. In LBD the Lewy bodies are more widely distributed throughout the brain." (The Pick's Disease Support Group in the U.K.) This dementia often occurs between age 50 and 60. The symptoms are similar to Alzheimer's disease, but the frontal and temporal lobes are affected more than other parts of the brain.
Dementia can also develop in advanced states of Parkinson's Disease. In this disorder, the brain stops producing the normal amount if the neurotransmitter dopamine. Not all patients with Parkinson's Disease develop dementia, and medications are available to help moderate the symptoms.
In the past syphilis was a significant cause of dementia. If syphilis remains untreated for years it often moves into internal organs such as the heart, eyes, and brain. Patients with "neurosyphilis" often have memory loss, multiple psychological problems, loss of balance, loss of feeling in the extremities, loss of bladder control, and impotence. Antibiotics have almost eliminated neurosyphilis from the developed regions of the world.
Vasculer dementia develops when the brain does not get enough oxygen. Patients who have had a stroke, or patients with congestive heart failure sometimes get this form of dementia. As we grow older most of us develop some mild impairment of thinking and short-term memory. This age-related cognitive decline is being studied, and research is finding that proper nutrition and physical and mental exercise can slow the rate of decline. Take care of yourself now, and your brain will thank you later.
Last updated 4/2/06
Sources for this article include the U.S. Administration on Aging, World Health Organization, and Pick's Disease Support Group in the U.K..
