Non-Pharmacological Therapies in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative neurological illness that is one of the most common causes of dementia and elderly disability in the United States. Recent reports suggest that, in 2018, almost 6 million Americans were living with AD. This figure is expected to increase to 14 million by 2050. AD is characterized by impaired short-term memory, altered communication, confusion, and behavioral changes. AD pathogenesis begins as much as two decades before overt symptoms appear. Early clinical evidence of cognitive decline without gross behavioral and/or physical dysfunction is diagnosed as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Later stages of dyscognition, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and loss of functional capacity is diagnosed as AD. Thus, MCI and AD are clinical stages within a spectrum of severity that encompass age-associated cognitive loss and functional decline.