Greene Jay
AHIP Cover. 2008 Mar-Apr;49(2):14-22.
Every 72 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer's disease, an incurable affliction that kills at least 66,000 people annually, making it the nation's seventh leading cause of death. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60 percent of cases (5.1 million people), according to the Alzheimer's Association, Chicago. Dementia describes a group of symptoms--loss of memory, judgment, language, and other intellectual skills--caused by damage to neurons, the brain's nerve cells.
在美国，每72秒就有一人患上阿尔茨海默病，这是一种无法治愈的疾病，每年至少导致6.6万人死亡，是美国第七大死因。据芝加哥阿尔茨海默病协会称，阿尔茨海默病是最常见的痴呆症形式，占病例的60%（510万人）。痴呆症描述的是一组由大脑神经细胞神经元受损引起的症状，如记忆力、判断力、语言能力和其他智力技能丧失。
