Alzheimer’s is an age related brain disease and is a most common cause
of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease affects on memory, thinking skill, behavior and
impairs ability to perform every day activities. There are several factors that increase the chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease
like age, genetic, environment, and lifestyle. Also,
there are other risk factors
that accelerate the development of Alzheimer’s disease such as diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic
conditions. Fortunately, some of these
risk factors can be controlled or change. Studies suggest that healthy diet,
exercise, social support, keeping brain active may help to reduce the chance of
developing Alzheimer’s.
Unfortunately, lack of knowledge about the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s
disease in early stage is a significant problem even in developed countries. In
such countries only 20-50% of cases of dementia are recognized and most of the
time patient is in an advanced-stage. Studies show that the changes in cell
brain of Alzheimer’s patient start several years before the first symptoms
appear.
Even though, Alzheimer’s disease is
not a normal part of aging but the disease most likely starts after age 60 and
risk goes up with age. Almost 5 percent of men and women age between 65-74 and
about 50 percent of those who are 85 years and older have Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) is a network of 78 Alzheimer associations around the world. It was funded in 1984 and support people with dementia and their families in their corresponding countries. They provide information, resources, and skills and share them throughout the world. Their goal is to make a better quality of life for people with this disease and their families.
According to the 2012 report of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) commissioned and WHO almost 35.6 million people in 2010 have lived with Alzheimer’s
throughout the world. They have estimated by 2030 the number of people with
Alzheimer's is expected to double (65.7 million) and more than triple by 2050
(115.4 million). Around 58% of Alzheimer’s patients live in developing
countries.
In addition, this report provides
the annual cost of care giving, treatment, and loss of income of people with
Alzheimer’s disease in the world, which is more than US$ 604 billion. This
report makes it clear by growing number of dementia; global health poses the
significant challenge in the future. WHO has considered dementia as a global
health priority.
Overall, Early diagnosis and intervention play an important role of
closing the treatment gap and provide a
better quality of life among those who are at risk of getting Alzheimer’s. The greater
investment is needed to implement a broad research over onset of the symptoms of
Alzheimer’s and the main cause of this disease to help scientists to determine
the proper treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. But until then, the government agencies, legislators,
residential and community care providers, and professional should facilitate
the availability and access to diagnostic and support system at all stages of
Alzheimer’s disease and improving the quality of health care, social care and
long-term care support and services for people with Alzheimer’s. Public health systems play a key role in advocating for
rapidly growing aging nation. They should conduct a broad surveillance and promote
public awareness of dementia and brain health.
www.who.int/entity/mediacentre/news/releases/2012/dementia_20120411/en/
- 30k
[News release]
Z- it is interesting to see the statistics regarding Alzheimer, especially the one regarding the % disease burden in developing countries. I agree that Public Health plays a critical role in this health problem through surveillance and awareness. Along with awareness, I think we need to educate the public about the danger of this disease. Just over the summer, I heard 2 stories of elderly people with Alzheimer's that went missing after walking away from their own home. It is difficult to provide care for someone in the late stages of this disease. Long-term care is needed for these people, yet our health system struggles to provide this type of care. Many families cannot cover the costs of a caretaker, so the last resort is a state-run nursing home.
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting that 58% of the disease burden is in developed countries. Is this because developing and under-developed countries do not live long enough to develop the disease?