With an aging global population, it is not surprising the focus of attention has been placed squarely on the shoulders of Alzheimer's disease; being the most common progressive degenerative disorder makes it especially noteworthy. Alzheimer's disease gradually causes deterioration in the memory and is currently affecting one in ten of people aged 65 and over; although current diagnosis is not perfect, the accuracy levels are up to 94 percent at best, 87 percent at worst. Discovered in 1906 by German physician Alois Alzheimer, the world's focus on this disease is only about 30 years old; its effects are not fully understood even today with all the research that has been carried out.

Getting older is the main risk surrounding Alzheimer's according to research. Unfortunately, the person experiencing the early symptoms of Alzheimer's will know something is wrong but won't admit it to others or even to themselves; until this happens it is hard to start any form of treatment.

General measures for treatment of Alzheimer's disease are the same as for all dementias. Unfortunately, because there is still so much that is unknown about the disease, there is no definite way to treat it although some symptoms can be improved or slowed down with drugs. The three main medications currently approved for treatments of Alzheimer's disease are: Donepezil, Tacrine, and Rivastigmine; they can improve the mental faculties of patients with this condition by up to 26 weeks.

Memantine is a new drug that slows deterioration during the later stages and is a derivative of the decades old anti-influenza drug Amantadine; this new drug is used on patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's already receiving Donepezil. Memantine side effects are minimal but it is the first treatment to show a distinct effect on patients with a serious condition; as 80 percent of the drug is passed in urine unchanged there is very little left to cause any harm.

The average age of a person living in the industrialized world is increasing which is making Alzheimer's disease a major health issue to be looked into; in the United States it is fourth in the list of fatal diseases. Although contracting the disease is a tragedy, the cost of treatment and care for sufferers is causing economic vibrations everywhere; with an annual cost of 40 billion US dollars for care and treatment, looking after patients is set to be a major problem. Nearly half the annual budget was spent on research into the condition last year by the National Institute of Aging; currently there are over 300 different compounds at various stages of development for its treatment.

To help you reduce the chance of contracting dementia, it's important to adopt a healthy lifestyle, choose carefully what you eat and drink and take more exercise. In fact researchers believe the happier and healthier someone is with Alzheimer's, the slower his or her decline. Luckily, early-onset symptoms of this disease are very rare because it primarily affects the elderly; there have however, been recent occasions (although rare) where a younger person has developed this condition.