Alzheimer Disease: The Burden on Mortality, Preclinical Alzheimer Disease Affects on Healthy Aging Functional Connectivity Studies, and New Evidence on Extrinsic and Intrinsic Risk Factors

Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia and has a significant impact on mortality in the senior population. A vast amount of information has emerged over the past decade especially in regards to the underlying genetics and the significance of intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors. The importance of identifying risk factors may provide critical information to prioritize those patients that may benefit from implementing preventative factors. The methods used in this review was a PubMed search using the words “Alzheimer disease”, “mortality”, and “risk factors”; this was further refined by selecting articles from 2015-2012. Additional background references were added prior to 2012 as deemed appropriate. The results of this review was that Alzheimer-related mortality is underreported, loss of default mode network functional connectivity is due to Alzheimer pathology rather than healthy aging, and three new AD risk factors were identified.