RESEARCH INTO ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: THE DISEASE’S DIFFERENT PATTERNS
Most doctors, and others working with them in a professional capacity, have a reasonably clear idea about the course of Alzheimer’s disease and use this information when making a diagnosis or advising a family about the future. There is nevertheless a considerable degree of variability in the way in which Alzheimer’s disease alters a person’s physical and psychological character. Sometimes these differences relate to the timing of the onset of symptoms; sometimes they are qualitative. Therefore when a doctor tries to help a family to plan ahead, his or her advice is based on knowledge of the ‘average patient’ with this condition. A more accurate picture can only be obtained if the medical adviser is able to study a sufferer over a period of time, getting to know that person as an individual and the particular characteristics of his or her condition. Even then it can be very difficult to forecast the future.
It has been found for instance that there is a very small subgroup of people, apparently with Alzheimer’s disease, in whom the condition is relatively benign. In these subjects the disease progresses either very slowly or may even seem to cease progressing beyond a certain stage.
This variability has led doctors to study the clinical presentation, or pattern, of the complex symptoms and signs in the hope that by identifying sub-groups of these symptoms we may be better able to predict the course of dementias in a variety of patients displaying different symptoms. There is also the possibility that Alzheimer’s disease may not be a single condition, and that studying different patterns of illness may help to sort out different underlying causes. This is still rather controversial and requires a lot more research.
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