Definition of alzheimer disease in English English dictionary
Degenerative brain disorder. It occurs in middle to late adult life, destroying neurons and connections in the cerebral cortex and resulting in significant loss of brain mass. The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer disease progresses from short-term memory impairment to further memory loss; deterioration of language, perceptual, and motor skills; mood instability; and, in advanced stages, unresponsiveness, with loss of mobility and control of body functions; death typically ensues in 5-10 years. Originally described in 1906 by the German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915) with reference to a 55-year-old person and regarded as a presenile dementia, Alzheimer disease is now recognized as accounting for much of the senile dementia once thought normal with aging. The 10% of cases that begin before age 60 result from an inherited mutation. Neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain on autopsy are the primary features used for diagnosis. No cure has been found. Most treatment targets the depression, behavioral problems, and sleeplessness that often accompany the disease
{i} degenerative disease of the central nervous system which is characterized by dementia (mainly affects the elderly)
Alzheimer's disease is a condition in which a person's brain gradually stops working properly. a disease that affects the brain, especially of old people, and that gradually makes it difficult to move, talk, or remember things = dementia (Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915), German medical scientist)
a progressive form of presenile dementia that is similar to senile dementia except that it usually starts in the 40s or 50s; first symptoms are impaired memory which is followed by impaired thought and speech and finally complete helplessness