A REVIEW ON ETIOLOGY AND TREATMENT OF ALZIEMER'S DISEASE

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder manifested by cognitive and memory deterioration, progressive impairment of activities of daily living, and a variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms and behavioral disturbances. Prevalence studies suggest that in 2000 the number of persons with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States was 4.5 million. The percentage of persons with Alzheimer’s disease increases by a factor of two with approximately every five years of age, meaning that 1 percent of 60-year-olds and about 30 percent of 85-year-olds have the disease. Without advances in therapy, the number of symptomatic cases in the United States is predicted to rise to 12.7million by 2050. AD is clinically characterized by a global decline of cognitive function that progresses slowly and leaves. The earliest phase of Alzheimer’s disease (cellular phase) happens in parallel with accumulating amyloid β, inducing the spread of tau pathology. The risk of Alzheimer’s disease is 60–80% dependent on heritable factors, with more than 40. Alzheimer’s disease-associated genetic risk loci already identified, of which the APOE alleles have the strongest association with the disease. Several approved drugs ameliorate some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, but no current interventions can modify the underlying disease mechanisms. Management is focused on the support of the social networks surrounding the patient and the treatment of any co-morbid illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease. Accurate diagnosis at an early stage is the need of the hour for initiation of therapy. The cause for most Alzheimer’s cases still remains unknown except where genetic distinctions have been observed. Thus, a standard drug regimen ensues in every Alzheimer’s patient, irrespective of the cause, which may not always be beneficial in halting or reversing the disease progression. To provide a better life to such patients by suppressing existing symptoms, early diagnosis, curative therapy, site-specific delivery of drugs, and application of hyphenated methods like artificial intelligence need to be brought into the main field of Alzheimer’s therapeutic.