Alzheimer's Disease
Medical Author: Howard Crystal, MD
Medical Editors: William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR and Jay W. Marks, MD
Previous Contributing Medical Author: Yuri Bronstein, M.D. and Medical Editor: Stefan M. Pulst, M.D.
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Caring for Someone with Alzheimer's
Medical Author: Frederick Hecht, M.D.
Medical Editor: Barbara K. Hecht,
Ph.D.
Caring for someone with Alzheimer's
disease takes its toll. According to the first detailed study ever done of
caregivers and the end of life, family members looking after a relative with
dementia have higher levels of depression, and greater need for support while they are providing end-of-life
care than they do after a period of bereavement. Depression often
results when a family caregiver, who endures high levels of stress, is unable to
alleviate the suffering of a loved one," said Dr. Richard Schulz, the
University of Pittsburgh, who led the study which was published in the
New England Journal of Medicine (1).
Home caregivers usually begin to recuperate from their
depression within three months after the death of their loved one with dementia, and the
improvement they experience tends to continue for a year. Knowing that the patient's death marks the end of his or her suffering may help cushion the blow
of losing the loved one. More than 60% of the home caregivers in the study said
they thought the patient was in pain often or most of the time prior to death, 72% of
caregivers said they were somewhat or strongly relieved by the relative's
death. and more than 90% said they thought that death would be a relief to the
patient.
On Duty 24 Hours a Day
The research focused on 217 family caring for relatives with dementia during
the year before the patient's death and after death.
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What is dementia?
Dementia is a syndrome characterized by:
- impairment in memory,
- impairment in another area of thinking such as the ability to organize thoughts
and reason, the ability to use language, or the ability to see accurately the
visual world (not because of eye disease), and
- these impairments are severe
enough to cause a decline in the patient's usual level of functioning.
Although
some kinds of memory loss are normal parts of aging, the changes due to aging
are not severe enough to interfere with the level of function. Many different
diseases can cause dementia, but Alzheimer's disease is by far the most common
cause for dementia in the United States and in most countries in the world.
What is Alzheimer's disease?
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is
characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in
reasoning, planning, language, and perception. Many scientists believe that
Alzheimer's disease
results from an increase in the production or accumulation of a specific protein
(beta-amyloid protein) in the brain that leads to nerve cell death.
The likelihood of having Alzheimer's disease increases substantially after the age of 70 and
may affect around 50% of persons over the age of 85. Nonetheless, Alzheimer's
disease is not a normal part of aging and is not something that inevitably
happens in later life. For example, many people live to over 100 years of age
and never develop Alzheimer's disease.
Next: Who develops Alzheimer's disease? »
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