According to the U.S. Census Bureau, New Hampshire is well above the national average for the percentage of its population that could be called elderly or senior citizens, and over 19% of Granite Staters are over age 65. 

Annmarie Scully of the New Hampshire chapter of the Alzheimer's Association dove into facts and myths about dementia, of which Alzheimer's is the most-common form, at the Mansfield Public Library in Temple Thursday. 

“Vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia are other forms,” she said, but Alzheimer's is the most-common type, currently impacting over 7.2 million Americans. 

“Dementia is an umbrella term for loss of memory and other brain abilities that impact daily life,” Scully said. She also noted that while forgetfulness is often associated with one’s senior years, a distinction is important.

“Alzheimer's is not part of the aging process. It’s a brain disease," she said.

The disease is named for Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist who discovered anomalies on the brain of a deceased patient who had been experiencing memory loss and exhibiting odd behavior for years prior to her death in 1906. These irregularities have come to be known as Alzheimer’s, but Scully stressed that the other forms of dementia impact millions of people.

Black and Hispanic-Americans are at greater risk for Alzheimer’s than white Americans, and two-thirds of the individuals living with the disease in the United States are women, said Scully, but solid data to explain these trends is not currently available.

“We all forget where the keys or our phones are sometimes - that’s OK,” said Scully. “It’s when someone puts the keys in the refrigerator, that’s different,” adding that forgetting to turn off a stove is another sign of perhaps something more than being scatterbrained. 

“Alzheimer's causes nerve cells in the brain to die, which causes the brain to lose tissue, and the cells cease to communicate with each other,” said Scully.

In a late stage of the disease, memory issues can include forgetting to swallow food. “Late-stage” should not be equated with “late-in-life,” however. The youngest documented case of Alzheimer's was found in a 19-year-old in China, and according to the Mayo Clinic, and young-onset Alzheimer's is present in approximately 110 of every 100,000 adults between 30 and 64.

Scully said that while many people are concerned with family history in terms of their chances of getting dementia, more than genetics, “the biggest risk factor is age.” 

“After age 65, the risk of Alzheimer's doubles every five years,” she said, and the later the onset, the quicker the decline. The disease is seen as having three stages: when one is asymptomatic, followed by an early stage of cognitive loss, then dementia due to Alzheimer's, which involves three of its own stages from mild to severe in terms of the impact on daily activities. 

One individual identified as Theresa M. shared her experience with cognitive loss in a film clip.

“It’s very frustrating to have to reset my computer password every week, and to not be able to explain to people what I’m going through,” she said. 

Scully noted that memory loss can be very uneven with an individual. She offered an example of a woman who can not recall her grandchildren's names, but remembers all the words to songs by Tom Jones and Michael Bublé when she hears them. 

While there are no cures currently available, various treatments can change the disease’s progression. Early testing can lead to early intervention, said Scully, noting that various non-invasive tests can help assess one’s cognitive abilities, and a blood test and positron emission tomography scan can also provide indicators without being definitively conclusive. 

“If there’s a suspicion of early onset, maybe a blood test is an idea, but speaking with a primary-care physician is always a good first step,” said Scully.

June includes an important day for all impacted by Alzheimer's, which includes unpaid caregivers, of whom Scully said there are more than 11 million in the United States. June 20 is the longest day of the year, owing to the summer solstice, and it is also a day when those familiar with Alzheimer's and working toward better treatment focus on raising awareness and fundraising for research. In October, the Walk to End Alzheimer's occurs across the nation, including in Keene, Merrimack, Portsmouth and Hanover. Individuals or teams work to get pledges for their walks which will help fund research.

Individuals attending the event in Temple discussed some of the challenges of being a caregiver of someone who has dementia, and asked how to broach various issues. Whether some individuals should give up driving for safety reasons was a frequent topic, and Scully noted what a delicate issue it can be.

“It’s a huge loss of control and independence,” she said, suggesting that one step could be getting an at-risk driver to agree to not drive at night or on the highway for starters. Another approach is to inform someone who should not be driving that a decision about it has been made by the auto insurance company, not the family, in order to avoid rancor in the home.

One person in attendance noted how his mother’s car began to have small dents on it and that later she ran a stop sign with him, one that the 94-year-old had always obeyed before. 

“It seems odd that we don’t require driver’s tests of older individuals after such hints,” said Jeff Jensen, who attended the program.

Noting the widespread diagnoses of another malady earlier in life, Jeannie Whitcomb asked whether any links have been made between Alzheimer's and previous behavioral or attention issues in young children. Scully said that this was not the case, and reiterated that any concerns about someone’s cognitive decline should first be addressed with that person’s doctor. She also called attention to a 24-hour helpline available seven days a week that is confidential -- 800-272-3900.

Scully urged people to remember too that while various forms of dementia can impact one’s ability to communicate and behavior, “the person you know is still in there.”