Alzheimer’s Disease

Dr. Amy R. Borenstein has been studying Alzheimer's disease for over 30 years, beginning with one of the early case-control studies of this disease. Since 1988, she has been funded by the National Institute on Aging as well as private sources to carry out a wide range of research in different countries and ethnicities focusing on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. She led a cohort study of 2,000 Japanese Americans living in in King County, Washington (The Kame Project) for 10 years. During the past 15 years, her work has focused on early detection and prevention of Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Borenstein has published extensively in the medical literature and is recognized as a leading epidemiologist in the study of Alzheimer's disease.Dr. James A. Mortimer is a pioneer in the field of Alzheimer's disease and the first scientist to conduct a systematic case-control study of the causes of the disease. He has devoted his professional life to the study of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and is nationally and internationally recognized as one of the leading researchers in the field of Alzheimer's disease epidemiology. His work in the Nun Study led to the discovery that characteristics of language at age 20 predicted the risk for Alzheimer's 60 years later, suggesting that the origins of the disease date to early life. In 1994, Dr. Mortimer was the Executive Convener of the Fourth International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease. He is the editor of four books, including the Epidemiology of Dementia published in 1981.

Alzheimer's Disease: Lifecourse Perspectives on Risk Reduction summarizes the growing body of knowledge on the distribution and causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in human populations, providing the reader with knowledge on how we define the disease and what its risk and protective factors are in the context of a life-course approach.

At the conclusion of the book, the reader will understand why Alzheimer's disease likely begins at conception, then progresses through early-life and adult risk factors that ultimately impact the balance between pathologic insults in the brain and the ability of the brain to modify disease symptoms. In contrast to edited volumes that may have little cohesion, this book focuses on an integrated life-course approach to the epidemiology of dementia, in particular, Alzheimer's disease.

Prologue: A Primer on Epidemiologic Concepts and MethodsSection 1. Defining a CaseChapter 1. The "First" CaseChapter 2. Clinical Appearance, Progression, and ClassificationChapter 3. Epidemiologic Definition of a CaseChapter 4. Neuropathology of Alzheimer's DiseaseChapter 5. The Threshold Model of DementiaSection 2. Descriptive EpidemiologyChapter 6. The Prevalence of Alzheimer's DiseaseChapter 7. The Incidence of Alzheimer's DiseaseChapter 8. Survival and Mortality in Alzheimer's DiseaseSection 3. Analytic EpidemiologyChapter 9. Introduction to the Analytic Epidemiology of Azheimer's DiseaseChapter 10. Family History, Genetics, and Down Syndrome Chapter 11. Early-Life FactorsChapter 12. Traumatic Brain InjuryChapter 13. Gigarette Smoking and Alcohol ConsumptionChapter 14. Vascular DiseaseChapter 15. DietChapter 16. Physical ActivityChapter 17. Cognitive ActivityChapter 18. Social EngagementChapter 19. Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, Hormone Replacement Therapy, and Anticholinergic MedicationsSection 4. Epidemiologic and Biologic MarkersChapter 20. Prodromal Markers of Disease or Causal Risk Factors? Depression, Olfaction, and Subjective Memory ComplaintsChapter 21. Fluid, Imaging, and Cognitive Biomarkers

Section 5. Future StepsChapter 22. Risk Assessment and Prevention of Alzheimer's DiseaseChapter 23. Summary and Recommendations