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‘Alzheimer’ has entered the top 10 causes of death in Korea. Alzheimer’s, which was out of the rankings 10 years ago, has risen to the 7th leading cause of death due to aging. Let’s learn more about Alzheimer’s, which increases the risk of developing it with age, with Professor Park Young-ho, Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital.
◇ Acquired cognitive decline ‘dementia’… Caused by ‘Alzheimer’s disease’
Dementia refers to a condition in which it is difficult to perform daily life independently due to a decrease in cognitive function. However, there are cases where such dementia is misunderstood as an independent ‘disease’, but in fact, dementia means a ‘state’ with reduced cognitive function. Therefore, it is correct to understand that it is a symptom that can be caused by various diseases.
In addition, dementia has normal cognitive function, but cognitive ability is reduced due to acquired causes such as degenerative nervous system disease or trauma, and it is distinguished from mental retardation with reduced innate cognitive ability.
As the population structure of our society is aging and the proportion of the elderly population is increasing, the number of dementia patients is also increasing continuously. According to data from the Central Dementia Center, the number of dementia patients from 625,259 in 2015 is expected to nearly double to about 1.07 million by 2025. The number of patients with mild cognitive impairment, which may be the pre-stage of dementia, is expected to increase from 1.46,477 in 2015 to about 2.35 million in 2025.
In order to reduce the rapidly increasing number of dementia patients, an understanding of the causes of dementia must be prioritized. Among the diseases that cause dementia, ‘Alzheimer’s disease’ is the most common. It accounts for about 70% of the causes of dementia. In other words, in the process of understanding Alzheimer’s disease, it is necessary to learn how to overcome and prevent dementia.
◇ Age, family history, lifestyle… Alzheimer’s ‘risk factors’
One of the factors that increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease is age. The risk of Alzheimer’s disease increases with age. The prevalence, which is only 2% in the late 60s, increases to 10% in the late 70s after 10 years.
The second is a family history, which is said to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by about three times if one of the parents or siblings has Alzheimer’s.
The third is lifestyle. Controlling chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes from middle age, and maintaining regular exercise and healthy eating habits reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
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| (Provided by Seoul National University Bundang Hospital) |
◇ Be sure to accompany your family when visiting the hospital and explain the singularity… Accurate diagnosis with the latest equipment
First of all, patients should avoid visiting the hospital alone. The children were advised to see the parents because their memory seemed to have deteriorated, but if only elderly patients without children visit the hospital, it is easy to make a diagnosis.
The reason is that most of the elderly patients who come to the hospital alone do not feel the degree of cognitive decline themselves, and there are many cases where they assert that there is no problem in their daily life. In this case, the medical staff often do not have enough information about the patient’s cognitive function.
Therefore, a more accurate diagnosis is possible only when a family member who has experienced cognitive decline visits them together and explains in detail how they felt the abnormality.
Second, it is important to find skilled medical personnel. Since Alzheimer’s disease is the representative disease that causes dementia, in fact, even if a non-specialist diagnoses it, if the cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, there is a 70% chance of correcting the cause.
However, it is necessary to confirm through an accurate diagnosis that the cause of dementia symptoms is not in other diseases. In many cases, the history and neurological examination of experienced medical staff play the most important role than the results of blood tests or brain MRI.
Finally, when it is necessary to accurately determine whether the cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, the latest testing equipment is helpful.
In general, since the brain of Alzheimer’s disease patients decreases in size, a brain MRI scan can detect characteristic findings and increase the accuracy of diagnosis.
However, brain atrophy is not found in some patients (10-20%). In this case, by checking whether beta-amyloid (the causative agent of Alzheimer’s disease) is accumulated in the brain through an amyloid PET test, Alzheimer’s disease can be diagnosed more accurately.
◇ There is no preventive medicine yet… Regular exercise is important
As many people are concerned about dementia, they wonder if there is a good drug or brain supplement to prevent dementia. Unfortunately, there is no definitive drug that can prevent the causes of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Here, the most effective way to prevent dementia is regular exercise. You can lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease if you consistently do aerobic exercise and strength training at a level that is not too much while considering your physical condition.
Also, don’t drink too much alcohol. Drinking too much alcohol destroys brain cells, leaving the brain vulnerable to dementia. Therefore, it is recommended not to drink more than one or two drinks at a time.
Efforts for such regular exercise and sobriety should not be delayed, and the sooner the better. It is better if you practice it from a young age, and even if you are already in old age, you should keep in mind that it will help you to overcome dementia by practicing a healthy lifestyle without delay.