Baby Boomers And Health Care

In only a very short space of time, Alzheimer's disease has become a major player in diseases affecting the elderly or baby boomers; other types of dementia include Parkinson's disease and Huntingdon's - which isn't entirely restricted to the elderly. The current figures show that of people aged 65 and over, 10 percent are suffering from Alzheimer's disease; the ability to diagnose the problem however, has increased with an accuracy figure of approximately ninety percent. Although discovered just over a century ago by Alois Alzheimer, it is only during the last 30 years that research into this disease has increased; its effects are not fully understood even today with all the research that has been carried out.

Studies into the disorder have shown you have a grater chance of acquiring Alzheimer's the older you become. The problem of early diagnosis is often down to the sufferer, who refuses to admit that anything is wrong even when they start to experience some of the symptoms; this can be a difficult time for family members who need to know what is wrong.

As far as treatment is concerned, Alzheimer's disease is treated in the same manner as other types of dementia. Some drugs can now slow down and sometimes improve the symptoms but so far no treatment has been discovered that can cure the disorder. The mental abilities of an Alzheimer's disease sufferer can be improved with the use of prescribed medication like Donepezil, Tacrine, and Rivastigmine; all of these have been shown to improve the cognition by about half a year.

Memantine is showing a degree of success with sufferers in the later stages of Alzheimer's; this drug slows down the mental deterioration so those already prescribed Donepezil with severe symptoms are now prescribed Memantine instead. Memantine is the first medicine to show such positive results with sufferers with few problems associated with its use; most of the drug is passed out again when the patient urinates (about 80 percent), virtually without any change taking place.

Because people are living longer Alzheimer's disease has become a serious health problem that governments must face; in the United States it is fourth in the list of fatal diseases. That is not the only problem because medical costs continue to increase and is something that needs some long term consideration; with an annual cost of 40 billion US dollars for care and treatment, looking after patients is set to be a major problem. Nearly half the annual budget was spent on research into the condition last year by the National Institute of Aging; global testing into various treatments are currently being investigated with hundreds of compounds under scrutiny.

One way to help lower the risk of dementia and one that you can have responsibility for is to change how you live by eating healthily and taking regular exercise. In fact researchers believe the happier and healthier someone is with Alzheimer's, the slower his or her decline. At the time of writing this condition primarily affects men and women over sixty years of age; there have however, been recent occasions (although rare) where a younger person has developed this condition.