Issues around early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease

• Published in: BMJ Vol. 343; no. 7828; p. 810
• Main Authors: Gordon, Peter J, Gordon, Sian F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 18.10.2011; BMJ Publishing Group; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer's disease; Alzheimers disease; Dementia; Early diagnosis; False Positive Reactions; Humans; Memory; Memory disorders; Memory Disorders - diagnosis; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurosciences; SUSPECTED EARLY DEMENTIA
• ISSN: 0959-8138; 1468-5833; 1756-1833
• DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d6613

[...]as neuroscience research has focused on biomarkers for the "pre-clinical" detection of Alzheimer's disease, 1 early diagnosis of Alzheimer's dementia has been encouraged through techniques such as neuroimaging 2 because diagnosis of dementia is often delayed. Recent research found that 43% of cognitively intact patients (mean age 83.7 years at death) had Alzheimer's disease at necropsy. 3 Worldwide epidemiological follow-up studies showed that the rates of transition between the earliest detectable memory loss and Alzheimer's dementia is around 33-50% over three years for the type of memory loss considered most likely to be "pre-Alzheimer's."