Alzheimer's disease (AD), also called Alzheimer disease or simply Alzheimer's, is the most common type of dementia. Alzheimer's is a degenerative and terminal disease for which there is no known cure.
In its most common form, it afflicts individuals over 65 years old, although a less prevalent early-onset form also exists. It is estimated that 26.6 million people worldwide were afflicted by AD in 2006, which could quadruple by 2050,although estimates vary greatly.The disease was first described by Alöis Alzheimer in 1901.
Each individual experiences the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in unique ways. Generally, the symptoms are reported to a physician when memory loss becomes apparent.
If AD is suspected as the cause, the physician or healthcare specialist may confirm the diagnosis with behavioral assessments and cognitive tests, often followed by a brain scan, if available.
The prognosis for an individual patient is difficult to assess, as the duration of the disease varies from patient to patient. AD develops for an indeterminate period of time before becoming fully apparent, and it can progress undiagnosed for years. The mean life expectancy following diagnosis is approximately seven years, while fewer than three percent of patients live more than fourteen years.
In the early stages, the most commonly recognised symptom is memory loss, such as the difficulty to remember recently learned facts. Earliest occurring symptoms are often mistaken as being noncritical age-related complaints, or forms of stress.
As the disease advances, symptoms include confusion, anger, mood swings, language breakdown, long-term memory loss, and the general withdrawal of the sufferer as his or her senses decline.
Gradually, minor and major bodily functions are lost, leading ultimately to death
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