Alzheimer’s disease is a disease in which there’s a progressive disorder that causes brain cells to waste away and die. Alzheimer’s disease is commonly caused due to dementia. (A continuous decline in thinking, behavioral and social skills that disrupts a person’s ability to function independently.)In this disease the person may be forgetting the recent events or the interactions, a person will develop severe memory impairment and lose the ability to carry out everyday tasks. Memory loss and confusion is a key symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. Having difficulty in remembering recent events or conservations may an early sign for Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is creating an enormous strain on the health care system, families and federal budget. Currently, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the USA which means that there are over 5 million Americans who are suffering from this disease. Age is the biggest risk factor for this disease. Alzheimer’s also makes treating another disease more expensive, as most individuals with Alzheimer’s have one or more co-morbidity that complicate the management of the conditions and increase costs.
Current Alzheimer’s disease medications may temporarily improve symptoms or slow the rate of decline. These treatments can sometimes help people with Alzheimer’s disease maximize function and maintain independence for a time. Different programs and services can help support people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. There is no treatment that cures Alzheimer’s disease or alters the disease process in the brain, complications from severe loss of brain function – such as dehydration, malnutrition or infection may result in death.
The disease may affect the nervous system as there may be many messages which would not be passed to the brain which creates confusion and memory loss in the person’s body who is facing disease. Currently there not a discovery which could do brain transplantation for memory loss and confusion created in the brain due to disease in the brain. Some medications like Cholinesterase inhibitors are suggested for Alzheimer’s disease. These are the types of drugs and these drugs may help reduce some symptoms and help control some behavioral symptoms. Medications named like Razadyne, Exelon, and Aricept. This drug prevents the breakdown of acetylcholine so hence preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine will help remember things as acetylcholine is the chemical which is very much important for memory and thinking.
Economic Impact
An important objective of the economic analysis is to show the value of a medical treatment or intervention. This is a complex issue. For example, if a treatment delays institutionalization, but does not affect survival, the overall disease costs may be lowered if reductions in the cost of institutionalization outweigh the increases in treatment cost.
Geographical Impact
Currently, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the USA which means that there are over 5 million Americans who are suffering from this disease. Age is the biggest risk factor for this disease. Between 1999 and 2010 there were 4,479,142 deaths in Spain.100,637 deaths were from AD and the Mediterranean coast was the part which was having the highest AD disease present in it.