He Alzheimer's in young people Is characterized by the onset of symptoms at an age between 40 and 60 years: loss of memory, not remembering names, difficulty to orient oneself, praxias, gnosias and loss of executive functions.
Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease that is associated with advanced ages and is considered a pathology of onset in old age.
However, this is not entirely the case, since the Alzheimer's Can begin to develop in the brain of an individual in much earlier stages.
Thus, in some cases it can be seen how this neurodegenerative disease can begin to manifest itself during the youth and early stages of adulthood.
These discoveries open a line of research of both the pathogenesis and the treatment of Alzheimer's that is highly interesting and with a high scientific potential.
In this article we will discuss the Alzheimer's in young people In order to better understand the complexities of this disease and to delimit what are the neurodegenerative signs that can appear in these stages first.
In this way we will make a special emphasis between the onset of Alzheimer's disease and the time when this disease is diagnosed, which, as we will see below, are not comparable concepts.
That is, Alzheimer's disease does not always begin when the symptoms necessary for its diagnosis are present, but in many cases the prototypical brain deterioration of this disease may be initiated earlier.
What is Alzheimer's?
He Alzheimer's Or rather, Alzheimer's disease, is the most well-known neurodegenerative pathology.
This first appreciation of what Alzheimer's disease already clarifies many of the characteristics of this pathology.
That is, the fact that Alzheimer's disease constitutes a neurodegenerative disease informs us that it consists of a pathology that is degenerating the Brain functions .
In fact, Alzheimer's disease is the prototype of cortical dementias and is characterized by an early deterioration of the Episodic memory .
However, Alzheimer's mental impairment is not limited to its more prototypical dysfunction (memory), but extends to all other functions performed by the brain.
Thus, Alzheimer's disease constitutes an acquired and prolonged alteration of several cognitive (mental) functions to such an extent that it hinders the normal performance of normal daily activities.
Talking about acquired alteration is especially relevant, since it means that the disease occurs at a point in life in which cognitive functions have already been developed.
In this way, people with this disease have a normal and healthy development of their mental functions, however, there comes a time when they begin to deteriorate.
Likewise, this mental deterioration is characterized by being prolonged and chronic, that is to say, from the moment that the disease begins to be objectified, the alterations no longer disappear (there is no recovery of the deterioration) and these are progressing until totally degenerate brain .
Thus, Alzheimer's differs from acute transient processes in which cognitive impairment may occur temporarily, but in which the person regains his mental functions later.
In addition, when we talk about Alzheimer's we talk about an intense affectation of the cognitive functions and for that reason it must interfere in the autonomy of the person who suffers it.
What are the characteristics of Alzheimer's?
Alzheimer's disease begins with a degeneration of the areas of the brain that are responsible for performing memory processes, thus, the first symptoms and manifestations more popularly known disease are mnésic failures and frequent forgetfulness.
However, as we have been remarking, the deterioration of the brain that produces this disease is progressive and chronic, so the degeneration is expanding and is gradually affecting all areas of the brain.
In this way, after a memory failure, other cognitive deficits begin to appear, to affect mental functioning in a total way.
The main symptoms of the disease are:
- Memory: Is the main symptom of the disease, in the beginning it can appear a certain difficulty to remember recent things or to learn new things, later the deficit is extended until reaching to affect all type of memory and memories.
- Language: One of the typical symptoms of the disease is not remembering the name of certain words, likewise, you can later lose all language and all verbal skills.
- Orientation: The person with Alzheimer's usually has great difficulty in targeting unknown sites, subsequently also unable to target known sites and lose personal and temporal orientation.
- Praxias: In Alzheimer's the ability to perform the motor movements necessary to perform an action is lost (for example taking a fork to eat), so that the person loses its functionality and autonomy.
- Gnosis: The disease affects the ability to recognize the external aspects, thus, a person with Alzheimer's may be unable to recognize objects or even the faces of relatives or acquaintances.
- Executive functions: Finally, Alzheimer's disease impairs the sequencing ability, that is, of knowing what steps need to be taken to carry out a particular action (for example, frying some fried eggs).
Finally, cognitive impairment can be much greater at the end of the illness, at which point the person may even lose the ability to walk, talk or eat in full.
As we see, the main symptoms of Alzheimer's make us think of a disease in which the person is highly deteriorated and affected by the degeneration of his brain.
In addition, these typical Alzheimer's symptoms occur during old age, that is, young and adult people do not have Alzheimer's as such, as this disease begins to show up around 65 years of age.
However, as we pointed out at the beginning of the article, does this mean that the disease always begins at this moment?
The answer to this question is no, that is, Alzheimer's can start long before the typical symptoms show up.
Thus, it is understood that typical brain development of the disease can be initiated before the occurrence of mental failures.
That is, the disease may begin during youth but not manifest until years later with the typical symptoms of Alzheimer's.
Thus, there is a certain overlap between the diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease and its onset, since the criteria for detecting Alzheimer's disease are not usually fulfilled at the onset of the disease.
This fact is mainly explained by the fact that the onset of Alzheimer's in youth is asymptomatic, that is, it does not present symptoms that may be observable in the functioning of the person.
However, to leave a little more doubts in the next two sections we will discuss in greater detail the characteristics of the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and the characteristics of the onset of the disease.
When is Alzheimer diagnosed?
The diagnosis of Alzheimer's is typical of Dementia, or the diagnosis of Dementia Is typical of Alzheimer's.
In short, to diagnose Alzheimer's or Dementia (who have the same diagnostic criteria), a series of cognitive dysfunctions must be objectified and determined over a certain period of time.
Before we begin to discuss the effectiveness or usefulness of these criteria we will review them.
The symptoms that must be presented to make a diagnosis of Alzheimer's dementia are:
A. The presence of multiple cognitive deficits is manifested by:
- Impairment of memory (impairment of ability to learn new information or recall previously learned information) (2) one or more of the following cognitive impairments:
- aphasia (Impairment of language) (b) apraxia (impaired ability to perform motor activities, despite motor function intact)
- Agnosia (Failure to recognize or identify objects, even though the sensory function is intact) (d) alteration of the execution (eg, planning, organization, sequencing and abstraction)
B. Cognitive deficits in each of the A1 and A2 criteria cause a significant deterioration of work or social activity and represent a significant decrease of the previous level of activity.
C. The course is characterized by a gradual onset and a continuous cognitive impairment.
D. Cognitive deficits in Criteria A1 and A2 are not due to any of the following factors:
- Other Diseases of the central nervous system Which cause memory and cognitive deficits (eg, cerebrovascular disease, Parkinson's disease , Huntington's chorea , Subdural hematoma, normotensive hydrocephalus, brain tumor)
- Systemic diseases that can lead to dementia (eg, Hypothyroidism , Folic acid deficiency, vitamin B12 and niacin, Hypercalcemia , Neurosyphilis , HIV infection)
- Substance-induced diseases
E. Deficits do not appear exclusively in the course of delirium.
F. The alteration is not best explained by the presence of another Axis I disorder (eg, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia.
As we can see, in order to diagnose Alzheimer's dementia, most of the typical symptoms of the disease we have discussed above must be given.
However, this globally used diagnosis is useful for determining the presence of a dementia syndrome but not the presence of Alzheimer's disease.
That is, Alzheimer's disease debuts long before it presents the necessary symptoms for the diagnosis just mentioned.
Thus, when the criteria for diagnosing the disease are met, it has long been present in the person's brain, only that it has not yet manifested itself through its typical symptoms.
Thus, it is very complex to detect an Alzheimer's disease during the youth, since there are no symptoms to identify it.
However, this does not mean that Alzheimer's can not exist during the earliest stages of life, and that Alzheimer's disease can develop until Alzheimer's dementia is described.
When does the disease begin?
As we have said, the onset of Alzheimer's is asymptomatic, so it is virtually impossible to detect this disease in its pure debut and, therefore, during youth.
However, a study called"Clinical and Biomarker Changes in Incidently Inherited Alzheimer's Disease"published in The New England Journal of Medicine Has presented a series of changes in the neurological processes of Alzheimer's that are witnessed in the brain before the beginning of the symptoms of the disease.
These neurological changes can be observed in cases of Alzheimer's only hereditary, and since in many cases of this disease other factors are present, these findings would be verified in approximately 10% of all Alzheimer's cases.
However, this discovery constitutes a great advance in the knowledge of the disease and in the preparation of treatments and preventive interventions that can research for the cure of Alzheimer.
Thus, the main characteristics that have been connoted in a brain apparently healthy and young but that will end up presenting Alzheimer's symptoms with the passage of the years are:
- Decrease of the levels of a protein known by the name of Beta amyloid In the cerebrospinal fluid of the brain. This process can be detected up to 24 years before the onset of memory loss.
- Increased levels of another protein called TAU Which is present in most brain neurons. This functional alteration can be observed 15 years before the onset of Alzheimer's symptoms.
- Reduced consumption of glucose In brain activity, as well as mild memory problems in certain areas of the cerebral cortex.
Thus, these findings reveal what we were talking about at the beginning of the disease: Alzheimer's can begin in the brain long before the onset of its symptoms.
Knowing and expanding research in this line can be fundamental to find techniques for early detection of Alzheimer's and make preventive treatments that can stop the evolution of the disease and therefore the appearance of the symptoms of dementia.
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