Current strategies for improvements in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, age-related dementia characterised by deterioratng short term memory, learning and cognitve funtions; anxiety; depression, withdrawal; de-motvation and irritability or aggression (Salloway & Correia, 2009). Over 5 million Americans, including up to half of over 85-year-olds, have AD; costing an estimated $172 billion for treatment and healthcare (Salloway & Correia, 2009; Grammas, 2011). A doubling of dementia cases is expected over the next 30 years (Chertkow, 2008). AD accounts for 47 % of all dementia cases (Figure 1) but another 25 % are mixed, involving AD and another type, such as vascular dementia (Chertkow, 2008).