About Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, degenerative neurological condition caused by nerve cell death resulting in atrophy of the brain.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, representing 50% - 70% of all incidences¹. It is often associated with older persons but it also affects younger people.

Dementia is predicted to become the number one health issue in Australia this century if treatments are not discovered.²

Alzheimer's Disease Symptoms

Symptoms of Alzheimer's disease include:

• gradual memory loss
• decline in ability to perform routine tasks
• disorientation to time and space
• impaired judgement, abstract thinking and physical coordination
• difficulty in learning and concentration
• loss of language and communication skills
• changes in personality, behaviour and mood (up to two thirds of people with AD have depressive symptoms and about 20% exhibit aggression, more common in men)
• hallucinations (experienced by 16%) and delusions (false beliefs), often paranoid (30%)
• loss of initiative
• altered sleep patterns, eating disturbances and screaming

Cummings (2001) lists the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms that commonly accompany Alzheimer's disease as:

• agitation (60% to 70% of people),
• apathy (60% to 70%),
• depression (50%),
• anxiety (50%),
• irritability (50%),
• delusional disorders and psychosis (40% to 50%),
• disinhibition (30%), and
• hallucinations (10%).

Cummings J (2001) "Treatment of Alzheimer's disease" Clin. Cornerstone 3(4), 27-39,

Disease Progression

The onset of Alzheimer's disease is variable, with some developing the conditions as early as 30 years of age.

The progression of Alzheimer's disease is also variable. It lasts from 3 - 20 years (an average of 8) from diagnosis. It can be acute, in which it develops rapidly from diagnosis until death within a few years, or it can be more chronic, developing slowly for up to twenty years before death.

It results in increasing levels of disability, requiring progressively higher levels of care to carry out activities required for day to day living. It can also result in changes in behaviour.

The average length of time from diagnosis may be increasing as people present earlier and as our skill in earlier diagnosis improves.

Researchers strongly believe that the actual onset of the condition occurs much earlier than our current ability to diagnose it.

The Three Stages of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's is often categorised according to the severity of the symptoms, as:

• mild (early stage),
• moderate (middle stage), and
• severe or advanced (late stage).

The mild phase, which typically lasts three to four years and represents about 30% of diagnosed cases, is characterised by mild symptoms of memory loss and disorientation requiring some assistance and surveillance.

Moderate disease occurs in a further 40% of diagnosed AD cases. As the disease progresses, more difficulties with daily functioning occur and assistance with daily living is increasingly required.

In the final years the disease is severe (the remaining 30% of diagnosed cases), with communication and movement problems and incontinence requiring high levels of specialised care, often in a nursing home setting².

Death is often attributable to pneumonia or other infections.

There are currently no treatments that stop the progression of Alzheimer's Disease.

2. Access Economics Report [March 2003] "The Dementia Epidemic: Economic Impact and Positive Solutions for Australia".