Alzheimer's Disease Data, Levels, and Caring Strategies

Bangladesh Journal of Neuroscience, 2013

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 1997

Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2009

It is becoming increasingly evident that the process of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is known to be gradual and continuous, begins many years, indeed, decades before symptoms of dementia become evident. Dementia is defined as a condition in which the cognitive deficits must be sufficiently severe to cause impairment in occupational and social functioning [1]. The physiologic mechanisms eventuating in dementia and AD may begin very early in life . Similarly, pathologic hallmarks of AD appear to develop decades before the dementia of AD becomes manifest. For example, Braak and Braak report that in a consecutive series of 2,369 unselected autopsy cases, approximately 50% of subjects who died between age 50 and 55 manifested the neurofibrillary pathology of AD .

Understanding Alzheimer's Disease, 2013

2016

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 2005

This issue of the journal contains an article by Jorm, Dear and Burgess that projects the future number of dementia cases in Australia between 2000 and 2050. The projections include prevalence and incidence rates if no intervention occurs, and if preventative methods could be used to delay the onset of dementia by various time periods. Furthermore, the article describes the likely ratio between healthy workers and dementia cases across the next few decades. Jorm et al. carefully present the numbers, the method is well supported, and the conclusions conservative. Why then is this article the focus of the current editorial? The answer is twofold. First, there is a need to highlight the significant message Jorm et al.'s work sends. Second, it is important to initiate discussion about the validity and completeness of the projections (negative and positive) and what action is required.

Psychiatry, 2004

Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2008

One of Dr Leon Thal's major contributions to Alzheimer's disease (AD) research was the network of clinical trials and his strong commitment to finding effective therapies for both the prevention and treatment of AD in the population. AD and dementia research has matured since the inception of the Alzheimer's Disease Center program from a primary social service problem to clinical-pathologic correlates and better definition of disease to evaluation of measures of cognition, in vivo images of the brain, and then to measures of beta amyloid and tau in vivo and relationship to clinical dementia. Unfortunately, we still do not know the etiology of AD or the relationship to other brain abnormalities such as vascular disease and Lewy bodies. We also do not have good preventive or treatment strategies. Both are badly needed. The critical question is whether this field is ready for a major change in focus from primarily a descriptive science to analytical, longitudinal studies testing new research hypotheses that will lead to better preventive and treatment approaches.

2016

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) has impacted me on a personal level and professional level. I witnessed my grandfather slowly slip away at the hands of AD over the course of a decade. As a psychiatric nurse, I have provided care for geriatric patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and stuck in a cycle of acute psychiatric distress and chronic neurodegeneration. Over 100 years ago, Dr. Alois Alzheimer first described AD. (Alzheimer’s Association, 2016) In 1994, former President Ronald Reagan put AD in the spotlight when he publicly shared his diagnosis. (Alzheimer’s Association, 2016) In 2013, the CDC estimates as many as 5 million Americans suffered from AD. By 2050 a nearly three-fold increase in AD cases will impact 14 million Americans (CDC, 2015). The progress and impact of AD research can be as slow as the pathophysiologic changes in the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient. So where are we today and where will we be tomorrow, in relation to Alzheimer’s Disease