Main Risks For Alzheimer’s Disease (1)

Alzheimer’s is such a disease that you need to plan for right away after the diagnosis. Still, some people enter the early stages of Alzheimer’s without even knowing they have it. The explanation for this is that they either don’t visit the doctor, or don’t realize that they’re at risk for the disease. Whilst doctors still don’t know closely what causes Alzheimer’s, they have narrowed it down. They think Alzheimer’s disease involves either the destruction or malfunction of nerve cells – but they still don’t know why this happens. However, doctors have agreed upon certain factors that may cause Alzheimer’s disease, some preventable, and some not.

The factor most agreed upon risk is age. It’s rather easy for doctors to agree upon this risk factor since the majority of people who have Alzheimer’s are 65 and older. Furthermore, the chances of having the disease almost double for every five years after the age of 65. Once person achievees the ripe old age of 85, the risk factor reaches almost fifty percent. Age is one of the unpreventable causes of Alzheimer’s disease.

Genetics and family history have always been thought to play a key role in the development of Alzheimer’s. Yet, that may be a misguided. Researchers found that the more individuals in a family who have Alzheimer’s, naturally the greater the risk for the rest of the family members. Moreover, people who have either a parent or a sibling with Alzheimer’s were two to three times more vulnerable to the disease. The researchers were able to find the gene practically guarantees that a person will have Alzheimer’s, however, the only gene that is directly responsible has been found in only a few hundred families, and accounts for a small amount of cases. This leads scientists to believe that most Alzheimer’s cases are due to both genetic and non-genetic factors.

Head injuries may play a much bigger factor than expected in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, and thankfully it is one of the controllable risks. From what researchers have gathered, there is a very strong link between a major head injury and being at risk for Alzheimer’s. This means that anyone who has played a contact sport such as football or hockey will be more predisposed to Alzheimer’s. Do not misunderstand this as meaning that everyone who’s played a sport will get Alzheimer’s. It doesn’t really matter how you damage your head, as long as it gets banged up Alzheimer’s will have a higher chance of occurring.