The History of Alzheimer's
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A woman in her early 50s was admitted to a hospital because of increasingly odd behavior. Her family reported that she had been showing memory problems and strong feelings of jealousy. She also had become disoriented at home and was hiding objects. During a doctor's examination, the woman was unable to remember her husband's name, the year, or how long she had been at the hospital. She could read but did not seem to understand what she read, and she stressed the words in an unusual way. She sometimes became agitated and seemed to have hallucinations and irrational fears.
This woman, known as Auguste D., was the first person reported to have the disease now known as Alzheimer's disease (AD) after Alois Alzheimer, the German doctor who first described it. After Auguste D. died in 1906, doctors examined her brain and found that it appeared shrunken and contained several unusual features, including strange clumps of protein called plaques and tangled fibers inside the nerve cells. Memory impairments and other symptoms of dementia, which means "deprived of mind," had been described in older adults since ancient times. However, because Auguste D. began to show symptoms at a relatively early age, doctors did not think her disease could be related to what was then called "senile dementia." The word senile is derived from a Latin term that means, roughly, "old age."
It is now clear that Alzheimer's disease is a major cause of dementia in elderly people as well as in relatively young adults. Furthermore, we know that it is only one of many disorders that can lead to dementia. The U. S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment estimates that as many as 6.8 million people in the United States have dementia, and at least 1.8 million of those are severely affected. Studies in some communities have found that almost half of all people age 85 and older have some form of dementia. Although it is common in very elderly individuals, dementia is not a normal part of the aging process. Many people live into their 90s and even 100s without any symptoms of dementia.
Besides senile dementia, other terms often used to describe dementia include senility and organic brain syndrome. Senility and senile dementia are outdated terms that reflect the formerly widespread belief that dementia was a normal part of aging. Organic brain syndrome is a general term that refers to physical disorders (not psychiatric in origin) that impair mental functions.
Research in the last 35 years has led to great strides in the diagnosis and potential treatments for Alzheimer’s1:
35 years ago
Alzheimer’s was regarded as a hopelessly untreatable condition. Except for a handful of investigators, the area attracted little interest and virtually no support for research.
25 years ago
Ideas about ‘cure’ and ‘prevention’ were inconceivable.
20 years ago
The knowledge of biological underpinnings and the genes associated with the disease had not been identified.
15 years ago
Animal models of the disease were not available.
10 years ago
A person’s risk for Alzheimer’s could not be identified and the concept of clinical trials to delay the symptoms was inconceivable.
Until 2004
The beta-amyloid protein, hallmark lesions of the disease, could not be directly visualised in patients.
2011
The field is on the brink of major breakthroughs that may lead to more effective treatments and, ultimately, to prevention.
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FOOTNOTES:
1. 5Khachaturian, Z, S. (2005) Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: two decades of progress. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 93-98.
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