Alzheimer's Disease Medications
- What is Alzheimer's Disease?
- What Causes Alzheimer's Disease?
- Risks of Alzheimer's Disease
- Medical Treatment
- Cholinesterase Inhibitors
- NMDA Inhibitors
- Investigational Drugs
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What is Alzheimer's Disease?
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in industrialized nations. Dementia is a brain disorder that interferes with a person’s ability to carryout everyday activities. Alzheimer's disease usually affects the parts of the brain that control cognitive (intellectual) functions such as thought, memory, and language.
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Possible Early Dementia Overview
Dementia is a serious brain disorder that interferes with a person’s ability to carry out everyday tasks.
- The key feature of dementia is a decline in cognitive functions. These are mental processes such as thinking, reasoning, learning, problem solving, memory, language, and speech.
- Other features that occur frequently in dementia include changes in personality and behavior.
- Generally, these symptoms are not considered dementia unless they have continued unabated for at least 6 months.
- Dementia has many different causes. Some may be reversible, such as certain infections, drug intoxication, and liver diseases. Of the irreversible causes, the most common in older adults is Alzheimer's disease.
- Read the Possible Early Dementia article »
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Alzheimer Disease »
Alzheimer disease (Alzheimer’s disease, AD), the most common cause of dementia1, is an acquired cognitive and behavioral impairment of sufficient severity that markedly interferes with social and occupational functioning.
