Information on the Types of Alzheimer's Disease

The three types of Alzheimer's disease that are known are:

Early-onset which is a relatively rare form of Alzheimer's disease. Early onset Alzheimer's is where someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's before they reach 65 years of age. Early onset Alzheimer's occurs in less than ten percent of Alzheimer's patients. The majority of the patients that experience this type of early onset Alzheimer's have other factors which for all extensive purposes may have contributed to the onset such as people with certain genetic disorders or Down's syndrome, as well as premature aging. In most cases these patients are diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's in their late 40's or early 50's when the first signs appear.

When young people develop Alzheimer's they usually present with more than one of the abnormalities of the brain that are typically associated with Alzheimer's disease. This type of early onset Alzheimer's seems to be directly linked with genetic defects, which is not linked in cases of late onset Alzheimer's. Myoclonus is a condition by which muscles twitch and spasm and is more commonly seen in early onset Alzheimer's.

One risk factor already identified by Alzheimer's research is a gene which makes one form of a protein called ApoE or apolipoprotein E. Although having the gene doesn't mean that you will definitely get Alzheimer's disease, it does mean that you are at a high risk for developing the disease. A simple blood test is available that can identify the Apo E risk factor.

The most common type of Alzheimer's disease is late-onset Alzheimer's. Late onset Alzheimer's accounts for about ninety percent of all the Alzheimer's cases and commonly occurs after 65 years of age. Late onset Alzheimer's afflicts almost half of all the people over 85 years of age and is in most cases not hereditary. Late-onset dementia is sometimes referred to as sporadic Alzheimer's. The number of people to develop Alzheimer's doubles every 5 years beyond 65 years of age.

People who are obese are at high risk for developing Alzheimer's disease because of high insulin levels which are normally present in obese people. People with diabetes are particularly at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease.

FAD is Familial Alzheimer's disease and is a form of Alzheimer's which is inherited. FAD affected families have at least two generations of family members which have had Alzheimer's disease. FAD is a extremely rare form of Alzheimer's and accounts for less than one percent of Alzheimer's cases. This form of Alzheimer's disease has a much earlier onset usually in late 30's to early 40's and can be clearly distinguishable to run in FAD families.

References for this article include: neurology.health-cares.net/alzheimers-types.php
www.guide4living.com/alzheimers/types.htm