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Alzheimer 's Disease : The Most Prominent Health Issue

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Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most prominent health issue in older adults. In fact, more than 35 million people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease worldwide. (D’Aoust, Brewster, & Rowe, 2013) Of these individuals, a good portion are taken care of by at home caregivers. These caregivers can described by husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers. “Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a chronic, progressive illness characterized by impaired cognition, loss of ability in instrumental and basic activities of daily living (aDL), reduced global functioning, and behavioral and psychological symptoms” (Haro, Kahle-Wrobleski, Belger, Agnello, Jones, Reed, Vellas, Wimo, & Argimon, Pg. 677, 2014) As the amount of patients with Alzheimer’s disease…show more content…
Both tangles and amyloid protein lead to cognitive impairment due to neuronal death. These also affect neural transmission. Amyloid protein and tangles kill off the healthy neurons. By killing off these neurons, the brain then shrinks in size. Alzheimer’s disease is also hard to deal with psychologically. Losing the ability to remember events, people and how to live in daily life takes a huge toll on the patient’s psychology. Alzheimer’s is often referred to as an “end-of-life issue” because of the deterioration of the brain. Due to the neurons and neurotransmitters in our brain, it is highly likely that depression is the result of the brain shrinkage. It is expected that once diagnosed with AD, depressive symptoms will arise from the patient and if not the patient, than the caregiver. There have been several researchers who focus/focused on depression and Alzheimer’s . Depression has been researched along with Alzheimer’s disease because several research studies concluded there was a correlation between the two. It is also a fear of many that depressive symptoms will prevail in patients when Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed. Mormont and his colleagues conducted research to observe anxiety and depressive symptoms after the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. This was done 3 months after the disclosure of the illness. (Mormont, Jamart, & Jacques, 2014) It has been
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