30 Jan Research in Context: Diagnosing dementia
Diseases that degrade the mind strike at the very heart of our humanity. Unfortunately, such diseases aren’t rare. Strokes, infections, and chronic conditions like diabetes can all cause lasting damage to the brain. And more than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias—a number that is expected to rise over the coming decades.
Dementia is a loss of thinking, remembering, and reasoning skills that affects everyday life. The risk for developing dementia increases sharply with age, but dementia is not part of the healthy aging process.
“When [older] people start to have memory problems, cognitive problems, it’s due to a disease. It’s not a normal consequence of aging,” explains Dr. Michael Weiner, a dementia researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.
While there are several different forms of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common. Until recently, a diagnosis of dementia might help explain cognitive decline, but there were no treatments available to change the course of the disease. However, the last several years have brought a major change, as the first drugs that can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s have reached the market. Read more…