The risk of Alzheimer’s disease is more prevalent now than it was 20 years ago.
Advances in medicine and better access to health care have increased the life expectancy at birth, said Larry Butcher, chair of the gerontology minor program at UCLA.
Aging diseases such as Alzheimer’s start to occur more frequently as a result, he said.
The population segment of people over 85 is increasing at a rate faster than any other age group, Butcher said. In particular, individuals older than 65 are at a higher risk of getting the disease. Alzheimer’s and other issues related to aging are going to become more important in the future, he added.
While current treatments focus on symptoms of the disease, researchers at the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research are focusing on ways to slow the progression of the disease itself.
Alzheimer’s is caused by the accumulation of a toxic protein, called beta amyloid, in the brain. This protein interrupts normal synaptic activity, killing nerve cells that are needed to perform everyday tasks.
This results in the cognitive impairment that is characteristic of the disease, said Joshua Grill, director of recruitment and education core for the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research.
Those with Alzheimer’s suffer from loss of memory, language skills and reasoning skills, Grill said.
Alzheimer’s sets in long before patients show signs of dementia, he said. The disease itself can begin when a person turns 50 or 60, although he or she may not show signs of dementia until much later, he added.
The way students live their lives now has a large effect on their health in the long run, Grill said.
For instance, head traumas have been shown to cause an increase in beta amyloid, which leaves someone at a higher risk for getting Alzheimer’s in the future, he said. Students who wear helmets while doing activities such as bike riding will decrease the possibility of head traumas and essentially lower their risk of getting the disease, Grill added.
Eating a healthy diet by avoiding foods high in fat and cholesterol will also reduce an individual’s chance of developing the disease, he added.
Being both physically and mentally active are also important factors to lowering the risk of Alzheimer’s, Butcher said.
Researchers at the Center for Alzheimer’s are looking for ways to diagnose people with the disease before they even show symptoms of dementia, Grill said.
Head scans and spinal fluid analyses are two biological markers that can be used to identify people with Alzheimer’s long before they become demented, he added.
Researchers are also looking for treatments that will reduce or remove beta amyloid from the brain, Grill said.
These types of treatments, along with early diagnosis, will hopefully slow the onset of the disease and prevent patients of Alzheimer’s from ever having dementia, he said.
There are other concerns surrounding Alzheimer’s and aging that go beyond the medical realm. The rapid rate of increase of the elderly population has social and political implications as well, Butcher said.
Butcher has been involved with the gerontology minor program for 20 years, and throughout that time, has seen an increase in class sizes. Students have become more interested in the aging process and the effect it has on society, he said.
Social matters regarding the aging population have become prominent issues, Butcher said. When it comes to health care, for example, the financial burden on the younger generation will increase in order to support the growing rate of aging people.
Butcher is also one of the advisors for Universal Gerontology and Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Association at UCLA.
The group aims to promote awareness on campus of Alzheimer’s and other issues related to aging, said Jusleen Uppal, president of the organization and a fourth-year psychobiology student.
“Spreading the word and getting people interested in this cause is very important,” said Shweta Balakrishnan, director of the group and fourth-year psychobiology student.
Members of the group were the only student panelists to attend New York University’s “Global Health Aging: Are We Prepared for the Epidemic of the Aging Baby Boomers” conference in October, where they discussed how the new health care reform policies would affect the student population, Uppal said.
On a local level, the organization partners with a local elderly day care center, Optimistic People in a Caring Atmosphere. Members volunteer once a week to visit the elderly at the center, participating in art projects, dancing and sing-alongs with the residents, Uppal said.
“We want to find ways to connect with students directly to this cause and make sure that they understand that it is prevalent,” Balakrishnan said.
Students are not only interested in what will happen to them in the future but also the changes society as a whole will make to accommodate a larger aging population, Butcher said.
“These are going to be issues that will pervade substantial portions of your life,” he said.