‘’THE 4 A’s OF

ALZHEIMER’S
DISEASE’’

TABIJE, ARVIE JAYSELLE P.

NCB-, BSN-3

MA’AM IVY MARBELLA

NOVEMBER 2019
1. Amnesia
Amnesia refers to memory loss and is often the most easily visible and common sign
of Alzheimer's disease. Memory loss in Alzheimer's disease typically begins with
short-term memory and progresses to a decline in long-term memory.
There are different types of amnesia, including:
 Retrograde amnesia is memory loss that is limited to the period before a head
injury occurred or before a disease such as Alzheimer's developed. Retrograde
amnesia hinders the ability to retrieve the memories that were already stored
in the brain.
 Anterograde amnesia is memory loss that is present for events that occur or
information that is presented after a brain injury or a disease develops. The
ability to make new memories is impaired in anterograde amnesia.

2. Aphasia
Aphasia is a term used to describe impaired communication. Aphasia may be classified
as expressive aphasia, where someone is unable to find the right words or may say
them incorrectly, or receptive aphasia, where the ability to understand, receive and
interpret language is impaired.
Aphasia is commonly thought of as the impairment of speech and language, but it also
can include the ability to read and write.
Alzheimer's disease affects both expressive and receptive aphasia. In the early stages
of Alzheimer's, there might be some mild difficulty with finding the right word. As
Alzheimer's progresses into the later stages, speech may become nonsensical and
impossible to understand, and it may be difficult to determine how much of what you
say is being comprehended.
Thus, your non-verbal communication—which is an important aspect of interacting
with each other when cognition is intact—becomes that much more important when
interacting with someone who is living with dementia. This can include basic tactics
such as remembering to smile to reassure your loved one that you are there to help
her, as well as more advanced non-verbal approaches such as demonstrating a task
you want to have her complete, instead of just verbally telling her.
3. Apraxia
Apraxia is a deficit in voluntary motor skills. While Alzheimer's is known primarily for
affecting cognitive functioning, it also affects the body's physical ability to function.
As Alzheimer's progresses, the ability to perform certain activities of daily living such
as bathing and getting dressed might decline. Activities such as walking and eating
become more difficult in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Due to these changes, people living with Alzheimer's also are at a high risk of falling,
and when they do fall, they are at a higher risk of fracturing their hip. Remaining as
active as possible, for as long as possible, may help delay some of the physical
changes in apraxia that develop in Alzheimer's.
 4. Agnosia
Agnosia is the impairment of the ability to receive or correctly understand information
from the senses of hearing, smell, taste, touch, and vision. For example, people with
Alzheimer's disease often are less able to identify smells or understand the feeling of
a full bladder. They also might not be able to recognize loved ones as the disease
progresses. Difficulty recognizing or interpreting visual shapes is frequently present in
Alzheimer's disease.
Agnosia may also be auditory, where the sense of hearing is intact but the ability to
interpret what the sound means is impaired.
The presence of agnosia is often part of a cognitive assessment. For example, one
task on the mini mental state exam (MMSE) requires the test-taker to copy an
intersecting pentagon figure. Difficulty in this task reduces the total points the person
achieves on this test and can be a sign of cognitive impairment.

REFERENCE:
https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-4-as-of-alzheimers-disease-98591