Here's hot-off-the-press bad news for baby boomers: 1 in 8 will develop Alzheimers' Disease. Lifetime risk for those of us BBs who are, have been, or will be 55 is 17% for women and 9% for men.
Women are more vulnerable to AD due to gender susceptibility and longevity. While men tend to die earlier and more abruptly, women tend to dwindle piecemeal with degenerative disease.
_____
*2008 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Delightful! Hopefully someone will figure out a cure for this evil disease someday soon. I KNOW I'm going to need it!
Abrupt over piecemeal is my choice.
Happy Easter, Doc!
that means 7 of 8 won't get it---I plan to be in that group (we can take turns looking after the 1).
Oops, I forgot...
Wishing you a blessed Easter. Thanks so much for taking the time to help so many people with your blog!
Love, Laura
Did anyone else see the report on NBC nightly news the other night about hydrocephalus and shunt surgery? The video is on the nbc news website My mom had successful shunt surgery this past Monday. She is 83. THe topic of nph is one that relates to dementia and can sometimes be confused with an early diagnosis of alzheimers. Anne
There are several types of dementia and I wonder what the combined risks are of developing one of them. Vascular dementia is perhaps the most preventable. On our unit, several people have been assessed for NPH, but if the pressure has been there long enough, a shunt doesn't reverse all the symptoms. I have only seen one dramatic success with the surgery out of 4 or 5 patients.
re: nph.
mom had not developed dementia per say, though she had feelings of pressure in her head and her concentration was off. Her gait has improved in the week since the shunt and she is now feeling clear headed. She is also having an interesting thing happen blood pressure wise....prior to shunt her pressure would drop quickly for short bits. This did not happen when she had the spinal taps and also has not happen for the past week. hmmm? Will wait and see if this holds Wonder if the key to shunt surgery success is in choosing candidates carefully and getting on top of the increased pressure before there is damage that cannot be reversed.
This week nbc nighly news story on nph, ran this week
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#23749016
Anne
Post a Comment