Alzheimer’s disease
It is assumed that in the EU there are currently about 7.3 million, worldwide about 24 million people suffering from Alzheimer. In Austria, about 110,000 people are affected by Alzheimer’s. The incidence is rising and experts expect by 2050 a doubling of dementia cases.
It is assumed that in the EU there are currently about 7.3 million, worldwide about 24 million people suffering from Alzheimer. In Austria, about 110,000 people are affected by Alzheimer’s. The incidence is rising and experts expect by 2050 a doubling of dementia cases.The gender distribution is uneven: Women are more commonly affected by Alzheimer’s disease in all age groups than men. With age, the numbers are rising exponentially and reach at 85-89 years 8.8% among men and 14.2% among women. In this age group, the rate of new cases per year with 4.15% among women is almost twice as high as the rate among men with 2.42%. Women have more linguistic, amnestic, semantic and orientation deficits than men. In the field of behavioral disorders women with AD are often suffering from depression, while men have with AD frequently suffer from aggression.
Dr. Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915), a German neuropathologist and psychiatrist described the symptoms in 1906 for the first time. He discovered typical microscopic changes in the brains of his patients and gave the disease its name.
Changes of two proteins are seen as the trigger: the amyloid beta protein and tau protein, both of which also occur in healthy people. If the concentration of these proteins increases and they clump together the pathological deposits in the brain that form the characteristic feature of Alzheimer’s disease form.