Fast Five Quiz: Alzheimer's Disease Management

Jasvinder P. Chawla, MD, MBA; Shaheen E. Lakhan, MD, PhD, MS, MEd

Disclosures

December 21, 2022

Alzheimer's disease is a chronic, neurodegenerative disorder of the aging population that results in progressive cognitive and behavioral dysfunction. Affecting approximately 50 million adults worldwide, Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and a worldwide concern. It is generally projected that the rate of Alzheimer's disease diagnosis and the costs to healthcare worldwide will increase.

Although the cause of Alzheimer's disease is unknown, there is suspicion of the convergence of environmental and genetic risk factors that, over years, leads to the pathophysiologic changes associated with Alzheimer's disease. However, recent scientific research indicates that the biological signs of Alzheimer's disease are present 10-20 years before symptom onset. One encouraging recent study found that plasma biomarkers (Aβ42/Aβ40, P-tau217 and NfL) improve the accuracy of predicting Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline. Further research is needed to confirm the optimal panel of biomarkers, although evidence suggests that all three core biomarkers are useful as they all add independent information predicting cognitive change. The accurate discrimination of Alzheimer's disease from other neurodegenerative diseases could potentially be achieved via a simple blood test to measure plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 (P-tau217). Further studies are needed to validate these preliminary findings.

Do you know current management recommendations for Alzheimer's disease? Test your knowledge with this quick quiz.

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