Warning signs: ‘Alzheimer’s disease a looming health crisis’

With rise in life expectancy, more people will reach the age of onset and be susceptible to the condition.

KARACHI: The next few years are likely to be a challenge for medical practitioners as the prevalence of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, which were previously quite rare in the region, is set to rise.

Muhammad Saleem Ismail, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Centre, explained that people in this part of the world used to die before they reached the age of onset of the Alzheimer’s disease. “However, studies have shown that the life expectancy in our region is increasing,” he said. “Hence the disease could be an impending public health crisis for Pakistan.”

Ismail was speaking at a session, titled ‘Challenges in Alzheimer’s Disease Research’, at the Agha Khan University, organised by the varsity’s department of psychiatry in collaboration with the Department of Continuing Professional Education.

The session took an interesting turn when a psychiatrist, Dr Murad raised concerns regarding the price and side effects of the drugs such as memantine. “Memantine doses cost Rs10,000 per month if you are consuming it every day,” he said. “Moreover, its side effects are far worse.”

To this, Ismail responded that even in developed countries, it was stressed to minimise the use of such drugs. “These drugs are manufactured specifically for Western society,” he said. “From an economic point of view, the older generation is independent in Western society and can afford such expensive drugs.”

Ismail added that the utility of such drugs was limited but it was the quality of life that mattered in the West. “Maybe the drugs will help the patient enjoy a small portion of their life and they may end up going to the nursery soon, but it is the way it works there,” he explained.

Explaining the causes and symptoms of the disease, Ismail said that as we grew older, our brain shrinks in size and starts to dry up, causing dementia. “If the whole brain is affected, we suffer from Alzheimer’s,” he said. “If the right, left and front portion of the brain dries up, we suffer from frontotemporal dementia.”

Ismail explained that frontotemporal dementia was the most dangerous, as the front side of the brain was responsible for the makeup of one’s personality. “In such a case, the patient can suffer from severe personality disorders,” he said.

Ismail advised the young doctors at the session to remember that drugs played a minimal role in the treatment of the disease. “Mentally stimulating activities could help alleviate some of the symptoms,” he said. “

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2015.