@ age 68 my husband was tested by a neurologist. result was early signs of a. how can they say it is really alzheimer's and not age relate dementia?

Because...: There is no such thing as "age related dementia." the dementias (and there are specific types) are actual illnesses versus mild forgetfulness that doesn't progress and isn't neurodegenerative. There used to be something called "presenile dementia, " which is a term/concept barely in use anymore. The real question is how they know it's alzheimer's, although there are ways to be pretty sure.

STATISTICS: There is no real "age related dementia", as actually about 45% of americans develop alzheimer's by age 85, but roughly 50% by then have generally normal cognition. Your husband is in the age group of alzheimer's, but could also have stroke related issues or medication induced pseudo-dementia, or even b-12 deficiency. Docs are 90% correct with their clinical diagnoses. Pet scan can confirm.

Age related Dementia: I agree wit other doctors , there is no age related dementia , there is age related memory deline.

Pattern of deficits: There is no such thing as age related dementia though age is by far the biggest risk factor for alzheimer's and several other types of dementia. Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia. Perhaps you were thinking of age related memory loss? To diagnose what type of dementia someone has one looks at which areas of brain functioning are impaired.