Alzheimer’s disease, sometimes
abbreviated as AD or Alzheimer’s,
is a brain deterioration disease
that causes a gradual memory loss
in patients. Although it typically
afflicts individuals who are above
the age of 65, significantly younger
individuals have also suffered from
Alzheimer’s disease. Anybody
can suffer from Alzheimer’s
disease but the probability of its
occurrence increases as one grows
older. Alzheimer's disease is the
most common form of dementia found
in people above the age of 60.
Alzheimer's
disease is characterized as early
onset, late onset or familial.
Early onset afflicts younger individuals,
typically in their 30s or 40s,
and is associated with the abnormality
of chromosome 14. Late onset is
developed after the age of 65.
Familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD)
is extremely rare and is hereditary.
Members of such families exhibit
the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease
beginning at a very young age.
Alzheimer's
disease was named after its discoverer,
a German scientist named Dr. Alois
Alzheimer. Reports estimate that
there are roughly 24 million Alzheimer's
disease patients all over the
world and among these, approximately
five million Alzheimer’s
disease patients in the United
States.
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