Risk Factors of Alzheimer’s Disease and Their Impact on Diagnosis and Treatment

A Review

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, and the most common form of dementia. It can be detected through the abnormal accumulation of beta-amyloid and tau proteins in the brain. These proteins contribute to the atrophy of the brain, due to amyloid plaques formed by the amyloid precursor protein (precursor to beta-amyloid proteins) and neurofibrillary tangles formed by tau proteins (National Institute on Aging, 2024). The exact etiology of this disease is still unknown, and there are many factors that contribute to the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease, including genetics and comorbidities. There are a few genes implicated in increasing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, including early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, particular variants of these genes can have differing effects on developing the disease itself (National Institute on Aging, 2023). Other comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes and some cardiovascular diseases, can increase the risk of an individual developing Alzheimer’s disease (Santiago & Potoshkin, 2021). Furthermore, there are two different modalities of treatment for this disease–drugs that change its progression or drugs that mitigate its symptoms, and different medications approved within each type (Alzheimer’s Association, 2022). Additionally, antidiabetic medications that utilize dysregulated pathways common to Alzheimer’s disease and Type 2 diabetes are being investigated as a potential therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, however, current data is inconclusive (Michailidis et al., 2022). With an overview of the prominent genetic factors, comorbidities, as well as current treatment options, this paper discusses the implication these findings have on early diagnoses and potential treatments.