Most people are afraid of losing their mental abilities as they get older. Not entirely without reason – after all, the number of people affected by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in particular has been steadily increasing in recent years. It seems to be one of the prices we pay for our increased life expectancy.
Overview: Alzheimer’s dementia
One thing all of the more than fifty types of dementia of varying causes have in common is that they are accompanied by steady loss of mental ability. Alzheimer’s dementia is by far the most common form of dementia – an estimated 1.2 million people in Germany are affected.
And the number is expected to double by 2050. These figures are of enormous significance, as not only the sufferers themselves are affected, but in many cases also the relatives who provide care.
This also means that more and more care facilities are needed that are equipped to meet the special needs of people suffering from dementia. This means that both financial solutions need to be found and a social rethink is required to raise public awareness of this still taboo disease.
Causes of dementia
Few areas have seen as much research in recent years as the topic of dementia. Many new things have been found, some of which have already been discarded. The exact mechanisms by which Alzheimer’s dementia develops have still not been fully deciphered. The search for the causes is made more difficult by the fact that, in principle, the diagnosis can only be made after death in an autopsy, whereas during life it is only a tentative diagnosis.
What is known for sure is that the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia increases rapidly after the age of 60. Among those over 85, one-third to one-quarter are affected. Many scientists therefore see Alzheimer’s dementia not as a disease in the true sense of the word, but as the end state of life that is only reached at various points in time (or – due to death – not at all).
Typical of Alzheimer’s disease
Typical of Alzheimer’s disease are deposits of protein fragments in the brain called amyloids. Presumably, these fibrils or plaques hinder the exchange of information between nerve cells – which atrophy and die after a while.
However, it is now suspected that there must be other mechanisms, since the characteristics of these plaques do not correlate with the severity of the disease and, conversely, these changes are also found in the brains of healthy people. In addition, there is probably also a hereditary susceptibility to developing Alzheimer’s dementia.
