Introduction:

Dementia is a chronic disease, and Alzheimer's disease is its most frequent cause, both associated with genetic and environmental factors. Alzheimer's disease is a disorder only manifested in the central nervous system and in which a slow destruction and atrophy of the cerebral cortex appears.

Objective:

To characterize the main risk factors associated with patients with Alzheimer's disease and their main caregivers.

Methods:

A literature review was carried out in General Calixto García School of Medical Sciences, between May and June 2019, and for which inclusion criteria were taken into account that delimited the search in relation to Alzheimer's disease. The research began through virtual platforms (SciELO, Medline, and Google Scholar). 31 articles were selected, of which 18 were original articles, 11 were review papers, there was one letter to the editor, and one debate. The articles were published in Spanish or Portuguese.

Conclusions:

Knowledge about the risk factors associated with Alzheimer's disease and its caregivers is of great importance, which will allow avoiding them by means of health actions that promote healthy lifestyles and thus trying to prevent and controlling the evolution of this disease, which dramatically affects more people every day.

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