Alzheimer's disease
progressive, neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for around 60–70% of cases. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation (including easily getting lost), mood swings, loss of motivation, self-neglect, and behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death. The median life expectancy following diagnosis of dementia is three to twelve years. Co-occurring movement disorder, also known as extrapyramidal signs, multiplies risk of death by 1.6.
The causes of Alzheimer's disease remain poorly understood. There are many environmental and genetic risk factors associated with its development. The strongest genetic risk factor is from an allele of apolipoprotein E, a protein involved in the metabolism of fats in mammals.
“Alzheimer's disease” enters the record as progressive, neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alzheimer's, disease and progressive can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11081. The Library of Congress control number is sh85004080. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alzheimer's disease” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.