Knew News on Alzheimer's

The National Council on Aging (www.ncoa.com) and the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org) have just recently announced they are changing the guidelines for diagnosing Alzheimer’ Disease in the hopes that the disease can be caught early. This is the first time in 27 years that these guidelines have been changed, which is a result of all the research that is being done for this terrible disease.

“We’re redefining Alzheimer’s disease and looking at this in a different way than had ever been done,” said Creighton Phelps director of the National Institute on Aging’s Alzheimer’s Disease Centers Program. “I think we’re going to start to identify it earlier and earlier.” With these new guidelines this disease has been broken down into 3 distinct stages:

1) Presymptomatic - The most recently discovered phase, in which no symptoms are evident but changes are brewing in the brain.
2) Mildly symptomatic -A middle phase in which mild problems emerge but daily functions can still be performed.
3) Dementia caused by Alzheimer’s.

There is no known cure or treatment for this terrible disease, but with these new guidelines and the continued research, hopefully in the not too distant future a treatment or cure will become available.

For more information on the new guidelines for diagnosing Alzheimer’s go to www.alz.org.