Alzheimer's Disease and Cognition in the Elderly

This literature review concerning the topic of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline in the elderly addresses the following relevant areas: overview of dementia in the elderly; theories of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline; cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease; predictors of Alzheimer's and cognitive decline; risk factors for cognitive decline; treatment of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease; and summary and conclusions.

Dementia is a term that is applied to individuals over the age of 65 years to indicate the presence of significant cognitive impairment such as is found in Alzheimer's disease (Epstein & Connor, 1999). This cognitive impairment is defined as a loss of the ability to care for the self and it is associated with numerous factors and problems. The most common term associated with dementia in the elderly is Alzheimer's disease, which is the classification for more than 50% of the dementia cases in the elderly. This dementia is distinguished from dementia due to vascular disease, which is found in up to 20% of the elderly dementia cases. The remaining cases are due to conditions such as normal pressure hydrocephalus, Pick's disease, brain tumors, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, nutritional deficiencies, and Diffe Lewy Bogy disease (Epstein & Connor, 1999).

Alzheimer's disease was named after Alois Alzheimer, who in 1907 exa

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e. These authors pointed out that the cardinal symptom of this disease is the progressive decline in cognitive functioning. The rate or pattern of this decline is not uniform however, and research studies have attempted to understand patient differences. This study investigated data from 156 patients with Alzheimer's disease. Behavioral, historical, and health factors were included in the analysis. Findings showed that the average rate of cognitive decline increased as the disease progressed. Those with lower cognitive function progressed more quickly than those with higher cognitive functioning. Education was a significant predictor of the rate of cognitive decline, with higher education having a more rapid annual decline (this contradicted the theory that a lack of education may result in a reduced reserve capacity in the brain and early dementia symptoms). Findings related to education are viewed with caution since there is only a small amount of associated rate change. Younger age was related to increased decline and agitation was related to rapid decline (Teri, et al., 1995). Backman, Jones, Small, Aguero-Torres, and Fratiglioni (2003) investigated risk factors related to the rate of cognitive decline in preclin
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Approximate Word count = 3417
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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