Alzheimer's Disease: A Case Study

A major devastating and debilitating disease, Alzheimer 's is a public health issue that affects not only the United States but also countries all around the world. In 2010, there were 35.6 million people living with Alzheimer’s. Researchers and medical personnel expect this number to triple by the year 2050. The disease is costing America an exorbitant amount of money and has become a burden on families, caregivers, medical personnel, the healthcare system, and the nation’s economy. If attention is not focused on this major problem, “nursing homes will be overloaded, caregivers will be burned out, healthcare system will be overwhelmed, and federal and state budgets will be overtaxed” (Alzheimer’s Association, 2011).

Everyday more and more people are effected by dementia. This disease is taking over the lives of innocent people around the world. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources have designed The National Plan to Address Alzheimer’ Disease. This plan focuses on many important areas greatly affected by this irreversible disease and concentrates on the struggles one faces during its presence. I found three areas to be very important to the future of Alzheimer’s and other dementias; Expand research aimed to identify and treat Alzheimer’s, Educate and support people with Alzheimer’s and their families upon diagnosis, and Enable family caregivers to continue to provide care while maintaining their own health and well-being.

The generation of hard working Americans that innovated our way of life and catapulted us into the twenty first century is aging. This fact alone will lead to skyrocketing medical costs and a compromised lifestyle for those in the Baby Boomer generation. As a result, a large number of diseases will increase, including Alzheimer's. According to The Alzheimer’s Association, “These numbers will escalate rapidly in coming years, as the baby boom generation has begun to reach age 65 and beyond, the age range of greatest risk of Alzheimer's.” A shocking “estimated 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s” and “by 2050, an American will develop Alzheimer’s every 33 seconds”

Alzheimer’s disease affects the lives of over 5 million Americans today. The cost that it has placed on the U.S is a staggering $203 million dollars. Researchers have reported that those numbers are expected to triple by 2050. However draining that this disease may seem, the real question is whether there is a solution. To this day there is still no cure to stop or even slow down th progression of the brain disease but there are treatments that help cover the symptoms. While the majority of the people who suffer from Alzheimer is generally over the age of 65, about 200,000, of the estimated 5 million, are in the age range of 30-40.

Health care needs become more challenging every day; in fact, it is one of the biggest problems the American economy faces today. However, within the next 20 years the population of adults ages sixty-five and older is expected to increase and “age is the key factor for development in later life” (Dilworth-Anderson, Pierre & Hilliard, 2012, p. 27). Recent studies have shown there are approximately 5.3 million Americans that have Alzheimer’s disease and it is expected to increase over

There is a growing epidemic in the United States that makes life for senior citizens fraught with danger and uncertainty. The current state in which millions of senior citizens live is frightening. Since 2015, there is an estimated five million people who are dealing with the effects of the Alzheimer’s disease and around 83,000 who die from it each year. Although doctors have some methods of treating Alzheimer's disease, these methods are quite inadequate. Even if family were to use the current Alzheimer’s disease treatment methods, it would only minimally delay the effects of Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, the treatments for Alzheimer's disease is often too expensive for family to cover the cost. With all of this in mind, it is necessary

Many people have heard of Alzheimer’s Disease, but very few of them would know that more than 5 million Americans h ave the disease. This number will keep increasing if the current population trends continue. That number also constitutes people who are unaware that they even have the disease, because the symptoms of Alzheimer’s are not easily recognized. This is due to the fact that Alzheimer’s disease affects brain cells and cannot be seen visually. In addition, Alzheimer's symptoms vary from person to person because each person with the disease is unique, and can be at different stages of disease development. More importantly, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, which brings to my attention the question of why there is no cure or prevention

Alzheimer’s disease affects an astounding number of people in the U.S and majority of those are senior citizens, which has a significant impact on the economics of the health care system. Many people over 65 use Medicare insurance to pay for their Alzheimer’s expenses, and some use Medicaid, which puts the cost on the health care economy even higher. In 2015, the direct costs to American society of caring for those with Alzheimer 's specifically, will total an estimated 226 billion dollars, with half of the costs paid by Medicare (Alzheimer’s Association, 2015). Included in these costs are expensive diagnostic testing, psychological evaluations, treatment and maintenance, nursing care, medications and long-term care facilities. In addition to the necessary cost involved in caring for the patients, millions of dollars are put forth for research of this disease, because Scientists are still working on a cure. By 2050, the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer 's disease may nearly triple, from 5.1 million to a projected 13.8 million, without the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent or cure the disease (Alzheimer’s Association, 2015).

The Alzheimer’s Association is a nonprofit association formed in 1980 by Jerome H. Stone and several representatives from several family support groups. The organization tries to address and bring awareness to a growing problem within our aging population, which is the development of Alzheimer’s and dementia in the senior population. On the official Alzheimer’s Associations website they explain their mission and purpose which is “ to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care for all affected; and to reduce dementia through promotion of brain health.” (ALZ.org, n.d.). Although Alzheimer’s and dementia can develop in earlier stages of a person’s life and there have been documented cases

— Elderly people suffering from Dementia and Alzheimer meet with a progressive cognitive decline making them experience hardship in performing their everyday conventional activities especially in their outdoor navigation as they tend to forget landmarks even in familiar environments due to gradual decline in their memory and thinking abilities. Hence, disorientation and wandering become common issue. Providing assistive guidance to the elderly people in their outdoor mobility has become a challenging task for caretakers and family members as most of the elders prefer to live independently. Thus, there arises a need for efficient solutions that can monitor the elderly people movements and notify the caretakers in the event of disorientation or wandering being detected.

We present the case of a male (JR) who initially presented with mild psychosis, memory problems, uncharacteristic apathy, persistent depressive state, and family reports of occasional agitation at the age of 69. The family had been overseeing homecare without medical supervision based on their own research and family history. A complete physical was performed and no major comorbid conditions were found. Laboratory tests revealed abnormally high total tau and ptau levels in the cerebral spinal fluid, low levels of β amyloid protein, and confirmed JR harbored the apolipoprotein E ɛ4 susceptibility genotype consistent with a maternal history of dementia. A baseline Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was then established, indicating JR had mild/moderate dementia and focal neurological signs. At the end of the first year the MMSE score declined by 5 points and extrapyramidal signs were evident, but during the second year an additional 8 MMSE points had been lost and JR had to be placed into a nursing facility. Due to the rapid progression of JR's dementia further testing was performed for signs of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which was negative. During the third year, JR passed away and the post-mortem confirmed the presence of Alzheimer's disease and the absence of prion disease.

I chose to explore the topic of Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Decline. Dementia is a loss of cognitive ability that reduces an individual’s capacity to participate in the normal activities of daily living. It also leads to memory loss and eventually the person will lose their independence. There are several diseases that cause dementia, but Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), is responsible for 60 to 80 percent of all dementia (Williams, Plassman, Burke, Holsinger, and Benjamin, 2010). The most prevalent risk factor for AD is age, with the prevalence doubling every 5 years after the age of 65 (Williams, et al. 2010). According to the CDC, in 2013 there are approximately 5 million Americans living with AD and that number is expected to rise to 14 million by 2050 (CDC, 2015). This is a great health concern because its prevalence is expected to continue to increase because of the aging baby boomers.

At some point in our lives we have probably all known someone that had or has dementia. Dementia is a generalized term that refers to the progressive, irreversible decline in mental function. Dementia is a disease that not only affects the patient but also affects the patient’s loved ones. Caring for a loved one with dementia can be very difficult and heart breaking but there are lots of resources to help.

Alzheimer's is a sort of dementia that causes issues with memory, deduction and conduct. Manifestations for the most part grow gradually and deteriorate after some time, getting to be distinctly sufficiently serious to meddle with day by day assignments. A standout amongst the most well-known indications of Alzheimer's is memory misfortune, particularly overlooking as of late learned data. Others incorporate overlooking imperative dates or occasions; requesting a similar data again and again; progressively expecting to depend on memory helps or relatives for things they used to handle on their own.Sometimes overlooking names or arrangements, yet recollecting that them later. A few people may encounter changes in their capacity to create and

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a commonly diagnosed brain disorder that deteriorates memory and thought skills progressively and irreversibly eventually culminating in the loss of ability to perform ordinary tasks. As the most common form of dementia, it’s prevalence affects 5.3 million Americans. The United States is an aging population, with an aging index of 66 people age sixty-five and older for every 100 children age fifteen and under, in 2010 (Jacobsen, 2014). AD has a current incidence rate (number of new cases of AD in a population at a given time) of 54/1,000 in people ages 65 and up, with rates predicted to double in the near future (Alzheimer's disease & dementia.). Globally more than 25 Million people suffer from AD. The mortality