Alzheimer’s Disease in Saudi Arabia

Alzheimer’s Disease in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, also known as ‘Dementia’ or ‘Senile Dementia,’ is the degeneration of healthy brain cells, leading to the deterioration of memory and cognitive abilities. It is the most common cause of dementia, impairing mental and social skills, which results in hindering daily performance in normal life and progressively worsening over time. The name of the disease is derived from the German physician Alois Alzheimer, who discovered it in 1906 after observing anatomical changes in the brain of a woman who died from an unusual mental illness.

The number of individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the Kingdom is approximately 130,000. This number is expected to double by 2050, as the number of affected individuals doubles every five years after the age of sixty-five. Alzheimer’s is one of the most serious diseases, killing more than breast and prostate cancers combined. Globally, a person develops dementia every three seconds, according to worldwide statistics.

Alzheimer’s disease involves damage to parts of the brain responsible for memory, thought, and language, making it more severe than ordinary forgetfulness. It is the most common type of dementia, affecting women more than men. It is not a natural stage of aging, but the likelihood of developing it increases with age. Patients go through several stages, and symptoms do not appear all at once. The disease progresses at different rates from one person to another. Although Alzheimer’s is an incurable disease, there are treatments available that can improve the quality of life for those affected.

One in every three elderly individuals with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia dies from the disease. The global estimated cost of dementia reached approximately USD818 billion in 2015, and this cost rose to over USD1 trillion three years later. This includes costs attributed to informal care, direct social care, and direct medical care. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, more than fifty-five million people worldwide (8.1 percent of women and 5.4 percent of men over the age of sixty-five) are suffering from dementia. According to local statistics, the lives of thousands of Saudi families are changed daily forever due to this disease.

Alzheimer’s disease progresses through three gradual stages. In the early stage, the symptoms are not clear and include several difficulties, such as memorizing the names of new people, choosing the appropriate word or name while speaking, performing social and professional tasks, planning and organizing, forgetting what was read a short time ago, misplacing valuable items, and placing them in inappropriate locations.

In the middle stage, the symptoms become more apparent and include mood swings and a tendency to isolate oneself, difficulty remembering important events and personal history, confusion about dates, days of the week, seasons, or locations, trouble remembering the home address, personal phone number, or the university from which the affected person graduated. Some may face difficulty controlling elimination processes and require assistance in choosing appropriate clothing. The risk of getting lost increases, sleep patterns change, and personality changes occur, such as paranoia and repetitive behaviors, like shaking hands or tearing tissues.

In the late stage, there is a significant decline in awareness of surrounding events, requiring constant care and supervision. Patients experience difficulty in communicating with others and face physical challenges, such as walking and sitting, leading to difficulty swallowing. They become vulnerable to infectious diseases, including pneumonia. Personality changes also occur, such as lack of trust in others, mood swings, social withdrawal, increased stubbornness, fearfulness, depression, and aggressiveness.

The Kingdom celebrates World Alzheimer’s Day on September 21, intending to develop services provided to patients at all stages of the disease, enhance health awareness about the disease, conduct workshops to address challenges, deliver comprehensive services to patients, care for them correctly, and reduce the risk of disease through lifestyle changes and adopt healthy habits.

World Alzheimer’s Day is organized in collaboration with Alzheimer’s Disease International to raise community awareness about the disease, involving specialists in neurology, geriatrics, Alzheimer’s, and psychological diseases to explain the disease, its health and psychological dimensions, its various stages, and methods of prevention and containment.

The Saudi Alzheimer’s Disease Association was established in Riyadh City and provides services as defined by its articles of association. It is the first of its kind in the Kingdom, dedicated to those affected by this disease. It was registered with the National Center for Non-Profit Sector Development on May 5, 2009, under number 491, and operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Health. It is a non-profit association that works to serve patients, raise community awareness about them, and educate people on how to interact with those affected by the disease.