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‘Alzheimer’ has entered the top 10 causes of death in Korea. Alzheimer’s, which was out of the ranking 10 years ago, has risen to the 7th leading cause of death due to ageing. 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 where it is difficult to perform everyday life independently due to a reduction in cognitive function. However, there are cases where such dementia is misunderstood as an independent ‘disease’, when in fact, dementia means a ‘condition’ 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 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 continuously increasing. According to data from the Central Dementia Centre, the number of dementia patients from 625,259 in 2015 is expected to almost double to around 1.07 million by 2025. The number of patients with mild cognitive impairment, which could be a 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, priority must be given to understanding the causes of dementia. Among the diseases that cause dementia, ‘Alzheimer’s Disease’ is the most common. It accounts for around 70% of dementia cases. 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 and the incidence, which is only 2% in the late 60s, increases to 10% in the late 70s after 10 years.
The second is family history, which is said to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s approximately three times if one of the parents or siblings has Alzheimer’s.
The third is lifestyle. Managing chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes from middle age, and maintaining regular exercise and healthy eating habits reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
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| (Provided by Seoul National University Bundang Hospital) |
◇ Make sure you accompany your family when you visit the hospital and explain the peculiarity… Correct 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 life Every day. In this case, the medical staff often do not have enough information about the patient’s cognitive function.
Therefore, a more accurate diagnosis is only possible 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. As Alzheimer’s disease is the representative disease that causes dementia, in fact, even if a non-expert diagnoses the cause of dementia, if the cause is Alzheimer’s disease, there is a 70% chance of correct the case.
However, it is necessary to confirm through a correct diagnosis that the cause of dementia symptoms is not in other diseases. In many cases, the history and neurological examination by 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 Alzheimer’s disease is the cause of dementia, the latest testing tools are useful.
In general, the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients are reduced in size, so a brain MRI scan can detect typical findings and increase the accuracy of diagnosis.
However, brain atrophy is not detected in some patients (10-20%). In this case, Alzheimer’s disease can be diagnosed more accurately by checking whether beta-amyloid (the causative agent of Alzheimer’s disease) accumulates in the brain through an amyloid PET test.
◇ 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 reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease if you regularly do aerobic exercise and strength training at a level that is not excessive 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 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 old, you should remember that it will help you overcome dementia by practicing a healthy lifestyle without delay.
sby@newyddion1.kr
