While researchers continue to work diligently down different avenues trying to figure out ways to understand and treat and hopefully one day cure Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, a group of scientists have been studying how we can get the best results from what we have in the way of treatment so far.
Combining a specific care management program with a commonly-prescribed drug for Alzheimer's disease multiplies the medication's ability to improve daily function by about 7.5 times, stalling some of the disease's most damaging effects.
These are the findings from a randomized trial developed at NYU Langone Medical Center and presented Sunday July 16 at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2017 in London.
Just giving anyone drugs alone is never the optimum way to treat anything, and this is true of these diseases that affect more and more Americans every day. The drug treatment program has been around for more than a decade and the results researchers got when combining the treatments have been far more positive than the original drug studies. This is an important fact, as the lead researcher Barry Reisberg, MD, explains that philosophically the medical community has a basic perception of the disease that sometimes blinds them to more hearty treatments.
Alzheimer's disease has been considered a degenerative condition, so there is currently little emphasis on retraining patients, says Reisberg. The team's prior work had shown that losses in function related to Alzheimer's occur in reverse order from the sequence in which the skills are acquired in the first place during normal development. They coined this theory "retrogenesis," which suggests that people with Alzheimer's with advanced disease can still learn if their training matches the developmental age level that their disease has restricted them to.
But how many iPhones will this cost the Republican Party to treat? Well, as another study conducted by researchers at the University of Exeter, King’s College London, and the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust shows, giving more robust treatments to people actually saves us all money in the long run.
Professor Clive Ballard, of the University of Exeter Medical School, who led the research, said: "People with dementia who are living in care homes are among the most vulnerable in our society. Incredibly, of 170 carer training manuals available on the market, only four are based on evidence that they really work. Our outcomes show that good staff training and just one hour a week of social interaction significantly improves quality of life for a group of people who can often be forgotten by society."
Dr Jane Fossey from the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Taking a person-centred approach is about really getting to know the resident as an individual -- knowing their interests and talking with them while you provide all aspects of care. It can make a massive difference to the person themselves and their carers. We've shown that this approach significantly improves lives, reduces agitation and actually saves money too. This training must now be rolled out nationwide so other people can benefit."
For many of us, making it to a ripe old age is as lucky a life as one can have. As long as there is life there is hope, and Alzheimer’s and dementia are frightening maladies that will affect our loved ones and even ourselves. It’s important that we continue to press forward with new technologies and treatments but it is also important we fully exploit the ones we already have to the benefit of everyone—not just the wealthy few.