August 7, 2000 – According to the experts gathered at the most important world congress on Alzheimer’s disease, held in Washington in July, 22 million people will be affected by this disease in 2025 and more than 45 million in 2050. There are currently 12 millions of people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in the world, that is to say 4 million Americans and 8 million in other countries.
Among the identified or suspected risk factors, there is a genetic predisposition, head injuries and high blood pressure. Conversely, certain habits, such as reading, seem to decrease the risk of suffering from the disease, as shown in a Swedish study carried out on identical twins, one of whom had Alzheimer’s and the other not.
Mild cognitive problems (“mild cognitive impairment”, MCI), sometimes difficult to distinguish from normal forgetfulness and the onset of Alzheimer’s, are an important warning signal. These people, among other things, have more difficulty remembering having seen a drawing than other people their age. Compared to the aging population as a whole, where one to two percent develop Alzheimer’s disease each year, this rate rises to 12 percent for the MCI group.
The key factor appears to be the size of the hippocampus, a region of the brain related to learning and memory. Magnetic resonance imaging tests have shown that people with an atrophied hippocampus at the time of mild cognitive problems decline much faster than those with normal hippocampal size.
HealthPassport.net
According to Associated Press, July 10, 2000.