Alzheimer’s disease has a long and complicated history, from its discovery at the start of the 20th century to the current research and developments around Alzheimer’s treatments and prevention. Let’s take a look back at the history of Alzheimer’s disease.
The Discovery of Alzheimer’s
The story of Alzheimer’s disease began in 1901. Prior to that, when someone was experiencing the symptoms now known to be associated with Alzheimer’s and dementia, they were attributed to senility or just normal age-related decline.
In 1901, Dr. Alois Alzheimer treated a patient suffering from symptoms like memory loss, paranoia, and personality changes. When he conducted a post-mortem on this patient after their death in 1906, he was the first person to identify that these symptoms may not just be signs of aging, but may actually be associated with (or even caused by) brain abnormalities.
In looking at the patient’s brain, he identified two unusual occurrences in the brain: “plaques” (which are known as beta-amyloid plaques today) and “tangles” (now called tau tangles). This was the beginning of the identification of Alzheimer’s disease.
Increasing our Understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease
It was many decades after Dr. Alzheimer’s discovery that the medical field started to understand the disease more and figure out what causes Alzheimer’s disease. It wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s that doctors and researchers began to recognize Alzheimer’s as a cause of dementia. At this point, funding and research finally increased and the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease grew much more quickly.
During the 1980s, a lot of research focused on looking at abnormal protein deposits in the brain and understanding the role they play in cognitive decline. By the 1990s, imaging had improved enough that earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease was possible. At the same time, much research began to focus on identifying Alzheimer’s causes and risk factors, in the hopes of learning how to prevent Alzheimer’s.
Recent Research
Even with all the strides made late in the 20th century, there still aren’t definitive answers to some of the big questions, like what causes Alzheimer’s disease and how to prevent Alzheimer’s. Research has continued to look at Alzheimer’s and dementia from many different angles.
There are numerous studies working on imaging techniques and diagnostics for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Some researchers are also working on treatments to slow the progression of the disease once it has been identified. And of course, doctors and researchers are continuing to explore dementia risk factors and gain a better understanding of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease. There are studies looking at potential warning signs in the brain that could indicate a risk of Alzheimer’s disease long before a typical diagnosis.
Potential Cures for Alzheimer’s Disease
Some of the most promising and exciting developments in the field recently have been in the pharmaceutical space. In the past two years, two different drugs to treat Alzheimer’s have been approved by the FDA to treat those with mild cognitive impairment, to slow or even reverse their decline.
Lecanemab was approved in 2023 and Donanemab followed in 2024. Both medicines work in a similar way to prevent accumulation of beta-amyloid proteins in the brain.
While there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease yet, there is constant work being done to find one. And these drugs that have been shown to slow or stop cognitive decline for those with Alzheimer’s provide hope for more treatments and potentially even a cure in the not-so-distant future.
From 1901 to today, a lot has changed and much knowledge has been gained about Alzheimer’s disease. The medical field today still doesn’t have all the answers, but has a much better understanding of the disease than even 10 or 20 years ago, with many more developments and improvements still to come in the fight against Alzheimer’s and dementia.
