Читать книгу The Alzheimer's Epidemic - Danton O'Day - Страница 24

There are a multitude of reasons why it is critical to precisely determine the stages in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. For family members, it’s essential to accept the severity of the disease so that they can make decisions about whether home care is sufficient or whether their parent or grandparent should move into a long-term care residence. For the family physician, knowledge about the status of the patient can guide him or her in suggesting the appropriate therapy. For researchers, defining the exact stage of progress of the disease is paramount. Only when the stages of Alzheimer’s are well defined can effective and meaningful research be done.

Historically, much of the work to date on the disease has simply led to developing more meaningful and appropriate staging criteria. But even today, Alzheimer’s research groups are fine-tuning their definitions not only of the stages but also of the specific changes that occur at each stage. As more clinical indicators of the disease are discovered, it may one day be possible to determine exactly when the disease starts. One thing we do know is that the symptoms of Alzheimer’s don’t appear until long after the disease has been set in motion.