The Vanishing Promise of Alzheimer's Disease Research

This week has been identified as Dementia Awareness Week. In discussions of Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and normal cognitive aging (senescence) soft boundaries are pursued with continual efforts to refine and develop quantifiable diagnostic criteria. 

The stories that I have collated using Storify, were selected based on the questionable journalistic enthusiasm represented by the Vanishing Mind Series in the Times. It isn't fair to simply focus on the journalism of Gina Kolata but her high profile acclaimed career is representative of the unbridled enthusiasm for advances in Alzheimer's Disease diagnosis, treatment, and cures in the absence of supportive data or reproducible results. 

During DAW it is important to listen to the patient. The stories described by the patients and caregivers are a reminder of the humanity of an elusive disease to identify and treat. Listen to the patient voices.

Studies that seek to identify modifiable risk factors are prevalent as the research strategy transitions to prevention. In the absence of a demarcation between senescence and risk for Alzheimer's strategies that emphasize brain health and healthy aging are becoming relevant.

Certain chronic conditions appear to be modifiable risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. To understand the potential health and economic impacts of addressing those risk factors, we used data on a Medicare cohort to simulate four scenarios: a 10 percent reduction in the prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, respectively, and a 10 percent reduction in body mass index among beneficiaries who were overweight or obese. 

Our simulation demonstrated that reducing the prevalence of these conditions may yield “unintended benefits” by lowering the risk, delaying the onset, reducing the duration, and lowering the costs of dementia. 

More research is needed to clarify the exact relationship between various other chronic diseases and dementia. However, our findings highlight potential health gains and savings opportunities stemming from the better management of other conditions associated with dementia. -- Health Affairs

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An article in the Health Affairs special issue --The Long Reach Of Alzheimer’s Disease, titled Optimizing Person-Centered Transitions In The Dementia Journey: A Comparison Of National Dementia Strategies, highlights the person-centered perspective. Global reports on governmental plans to manage care and costs of patients with Alzheimer's Disease are available and summarized in the table below. When a country’s national dementia strategy specifically addresses the transition, includes an action plan to improve the transition, or both, a bullet point appears in the appropriate cell in the table.

The majority of national strategies address earlier transitions disease progression but fewer strategies address the required care in advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease.

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freelance medical writer, health economics writer, and health policy advocate

Thoughtful discussions about content development and outcomes analytics that apply the principles and frameworks of health policy and economics to persistent and perplexing health and health care problems