Alzheimer’s Disease: A comprehensive analysis of risk factors, therapeutic approaches, and emerging interventions

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) represents a looming global health crisis, with projections estimating 152.8 million affected individuals by 2050, disproportionately impacting ageing populations in China, the United States of America, and India. This review examines the complex interplay between demographic risk factors like age, gender, and geographic distribution, along with comorbidities accelerating AD pathogenesis, such as type-2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression, through converging mechanisms of neuroinflammation, vascular dysfunction, and metabolic impairment. We critically assess current therapeutic strategies spanning multiple mechanistic approaches, including various hypothesis-based therapeutic strategies. Although new therapies have gained regulatory approval, significant challenges persist, including trial failures, modest efficacy, and multifactorial etiology. Due to the limited success of traditional therapies, several unconventional strategies have also been explored recently. While natural products demonstrate mixed evidence with no major breakthroughs yet, probiotics, multivitamins, and multidomain intervention programs incorporating precision medicine, nanoscience, and lifestyle changes show promise towards future course of action. Advancing these integrated paradigms with careful analysis of current limitations represents the best opportunity to mitigate AD’s global burden and a step closer to effective disease-modifying cures.