Geriatrics
Geriatrics
Study finds Alzheimer's estimates too low
Current estimates in the literature put the number of people in the United States with Alzheimer's disease at roughly 4 million, but a study presented at the recent World Alzheimer Congress 2000 in Washington, DC, suggests the actual number is much larger.
Researchers examined the rate of change in memory function during a six-year period in nearly 750 nuns, priests, and brothers participating in the Religious Orders Study, a longitudinal, clinical-pathologic study of aging and Alzheimer's disease. In addition, study author David Bennett, MD, director of Rush Alzheimer's Research Center at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, measured the amount of Alzheimer's disease pathology in the first 100 participants who had a brain autopsy.
Bennett and his colleagues found that people with mild cognitive impairment declined much faster on memory tests than people with no cognitive impairment. In addition, Alzheimer's disease pathology already was present to a large degree in people who died with mild cognitive impairment.
Researchers also examined the relation of Alzheimer's disease pathology to memory function just prior to death and to rates of change in memory several years prior to death. Alzheimer's disease pathology was related to both. Overall, the data suggest that many people with mild memory problems who do not meet conventional criteria for dementia are exhibiting the pathology of Alzheimer's disease.
"Often these people are not diagnosed with Alzheimer's or told that their mild memory loss is part of normal aging," he says. He notes that this research indicates the magnitude of the public health problem posed by Alzheimer's may be even larger than commonly recognized, and that increased funding for clinical care and research is needed to effectively combat this disease.
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