Alzheimer’s Disease in Lebanon: Exploring Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors
What is it about?
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition that displays a high prevalence in Lebanon causing a local burden in healthcare, economic and society sectors. Unfortunately, the lack of prevalence studies and clinical trials in Lebanon minimizes the improvement of AD patient health status. In this review, we include over 175 articles to cover the different aspects of AD ranging from mechanisms to possible treatment and management tools. We highlight some important modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors of the disease including genetics, age, cardiovascular diseases, smoking, etc. Finally, we propose a hypothetical genetic synergy model between APOE4 and TREM2 genes which constitute a potential early diagnostic tool that helps in reducing the risk of AD based on preventative measures decades before cognitive decline. The studies on AD in Lebanon and the Middle East are scarce. This review points out the importance of genetic mapping in the understanding of the disease pathology which is crucial for the emergence of novel diagnostic tools. Hence, we established a rigid basis for further research to identify the most influential genetic and environmental risk factors for the purpose of using more specific diagnostic tool and possibly adopting a local management protocol.
Why is it important?
Rarely any study been made on the wellbeing of elderlies in the region, particularly about dementia. Hence, our team has devoted himself for going deeply in the issue, searching for the root of the disease, hoping to find a much more suitable way for reducing the risk of the disease and improving its management. Furthermore, this review would lay a basic scheme for future work related to the risk factors of Alzheimer disease.