Index
- What are the main complications of Alzheimer's?
- What does Alzheimer's disease look like?
- Who are the people at risk?
- What are the possible complications of Alzheimer's?
- What factors can help prevent complications?
What are the main complications of Alzheimer's?
Among the most common dementias, Alzheimer's disease is at the top of the list. This disease affects mostly older people and its risk of developing increases with age. The average age of people with this disease is between 60 and 70. Irreversible, Alzheimer's disease worsens over time and can lead to some very serious complications. What are these complications? What can be done to prevent them? The following paragraphs help you learn more about the complications of Alzheimer's disease.
What does Alzheimer's disease look like?
Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease. As such, it corresponds to an impairment of certain neurons. A progressive deterioration of these neurons increases the severity of the disease. Thus, the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease vary over time. As for its cause, scientists have been able to determine that ageing is the main cause of this disease. Apart from age, Alzheimer's disease is also believed to be caused by smoking, diet, education and head injuries.
This neurodegenerative pathology manifests itself progressively. In any case, its symptoms are easy to identify. Here are the main manifestations of this disease:
- A progressive loss of cognitive abilities (memory and recognition problems)
- Patient has spatial orientation problems
- Speech and writing disorders
- Difficulty thinking and thinking or judging and making decisions
- An olfactory loss
- The patient is not capable of planning
- Problems with performing household chores
Who are the people at risk?
As you can see, Alzheimer's disease only affects older people. However, old age does not always mean that the elderly person will be affected by this disease. Indeed, certain risk factors make some people more likely to develop this neurodegenerative pathology than others.
Thus, the main risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, apart from age, are as follows:
- Gender: by observing patients with this disease, scientists were able to see that it would affect women more than men.
- Genetics: The risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is greater in people with the ApoE4 gene. If there is only one copy of this gene, this risk is multiplied by 3. If, on the other hand, the person concerned is a carrier of two ApoE4 genes, this risk is multiplied by 10.
- Family history: Having a loved one with the disease triples the risk of having it.
- Educational attainment: This may be surprising, but it has been proven that the more education a person has received, the less likely they are to be affected by Alzheimer's disease.
- Diabetes
- Down Syndrome, or Down syndrome
What are the possible complications of Alzheimer's?
Treating Alzheimer's disease completely is currently impossible. However, certain actions can be taken and precautions taken to avoid or delay the onset of Alzheimer's complications. Indeed, as the disease develops, complications also appear. Eventually, they eventually make the sick person completely dependent on the people around him or her.
Then you should know that Alzheimer's disease can cause :
- Behavioral disorders
- Falls due to loss of mobility as well as loss of functional independence
- An undernutrition that causes significant weight loss. This weight loss weakens the patient's health. Moreover, this significant undernutrition may be a reason to hospitalize the patient in order to monitor his health and prevent the appearance of certain more serious complications
- A physical deterioration that favours certain fatal complications such as urinary, pulmonary or skin infections
- A considerable decrease in patient autonomy. At this stage, consideration should be given to placement in a specialised institution or the hiring of medical staff to care for the patient on a daily basis
What factors can help prevent complications?
In order to delay the onset of symptoms and complications of Alzheimer's disease as long as possible, you should be aware that there are protective factors. The main protective factors against Alzheimer's disease are listed below. Although the majority of them must be practiced years before the first symptoms appear, the patient can always try to apply them to maintain his or her health.
- Regular physical activity: Studies have shown that regular physical activity helps to prevent cognitive decline, and thus to prevent or slow the development of Alzheimer's disease
- A high level of education: regular intellectual activity would protect against the onset and development of Alzheimer's disease
- The regular consumption of red wine: consumed in small quantities, regularly, red wine acts by protecting against this neurodegenerative pathology
- The consumption of fatty fish and a diet rich in antioxidants would also help to slow down, or even prevent, the onset of the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease
As you can see, Alzheimer's disease is an incurable disease that can have disastrous consequences. However, adopting good habits and a healthy lifestyle can help prevent its onset.
