Alzheimer’s Disease - A Degenerative Brain Condition

Alzheimer’s disease First Name, Last Name Institutional Affiliation Date Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a degenerative brain condition that affects cognitive skills, memory, and language, is a common cause of dementia and death in the US today. According to Alzheimer’s Association (2018), 5.7 million American people across all age groups are living with AD in 2018. Majority of this population (5.5 million) are boomers (adults above 65years) while about 200,000 are 65 years and younger. Alzheimer’s Association (2018) further indicates that one in 10 people age 65 years and above have the disorder while 81% of people living with it are 75 years or older. Data by CDC (2018) indicated that an estimated 484,000 people age 65 years and above would develop the disorder in 2018 in the US. There is still no data showing the new cases of Alzheimer for this population group in 2019. According to NIH (2017), the pathophysiology of AD relates to injury and death of neurons and the existence of two major microscopic neuropathological hallmarks. These hallmarks include intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and extracellular amyloid plaques. Loss of neurons initially takes place in the hippocampus which is vital for learning and forming memories (NIH, 2017). Destruction of more neurons eventually affects the entire brain causing the brain’s volume to shrink. The present clinical criteria for an AD diagnosis is a complete physical examination (both neurologic exam and mental state) based on the characteristic signs and symptoms and excluding other causes (comorbid conditions). Health practitioners should differentiate it from other cognitive impairments caused by metabolic diseases, depression, substance abuse, and other neurodeg...