Aging (Milan, Italy)
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Aging (Milan, Italy) · Jun 2001
ReviewStructural neuroimaging of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
This paper reviews the use of imaging techniques to aid in the clinical diagnosis of dementia. Two approaches are distinguished. One is the exclusionary approach in which imaging is used to rule out diseases that would mimic or cause dementia; based on the literature, this approach yields very little, if any, information that was not identified clinically. ⋯ For a diagnosis of vascular dementia imaging is necessary, although not all vascular changes fulfill requirements of being relevant to dementia. Potentially of more importance, given the higher prevalence of AD, is the identification of concomitant vascular changes in AD that may be amenable to therapy, and may be used to identify subgroups. Structural and functional MRI techniques have great potential in identifying patients at risk for AD, which will allow for a very early treatment with drugs that slow or even halt progression.
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Aging (Milan, Italy) · Oct 1994
ReviewStudies of the epidemiology of dementia: comparisons between developed and developing countries.
By the year 2025, 68% of the world's population aged 65 and above, nearly 277 million people, will be residing in developing countries. The less industrialized nations have been the least studied to date, and may yield significant new information about the etiology and risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias. ⋯ In this work we will discuss some general conceptual and methodological issues regarding epidemiological studies of dementia in developing countries. The topics discussed include community-based screening for dementia, screening instruments and their application in cross-cultural studies, steps in standardization of new or modified neuropsychological tests, and some special considerations in studying uneducated/illiterate populations.