Are the revised diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease useful in low- and middle-income countries?

Shanghai Arch Psychiatry. 2015 Apr 25;27(2):119-23. doi: 10.11919/j.issn.1002-0829.215001.

Abstract

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a leading cause of disease burden among elderly individuals that is increasingly important in middle-income countries like China where improvements in overall health (which increase longevity) and other factors are leading to a rapidly aging population. The diagnostic criteria for AD have recently been revised to reflect advances in the understanding of the condition over the past three decades. Different international organizations have proposed algorithms for diagnosing AD that subdivide the AD spectrum into overlapping stages and, in some cases, require the concurrent presence of memory impairment and specific biomarkers. There are, however, several substantial limitations to these revised criteria: highly trained clinicians are needed to make the fine discriminations between the stages; the role of the proposed biomarkers in the onset and course of AD remain uncertain; and assessment of these biomarkers requires the use of expensive, high-tech equipment by well-trained technicians. These problems limit the clinical utility of these diagnostic criteria, particularly in low-resource settings where the clinicians responsible for identifying and treating individuals with AD have limited training and where the equipment needed to identify the biomarkers are either non-existent or in short supply.

概述: 阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer’s Disease,AD)是老年人主要疾病负担之一。在中等收入国家,如中国,整体健康状况改善、寿命延长以及其他一些因素使得人口迅速老龄化,AD所致的负担日益加重。近来AD诊断标准的修订,则反映了过去三十年中对该病认识的新进展。不同国际组织提出不同的AD诊断标准,这些标准都将AD疾病谱细分为若干阶段,所分的阶段彼此有些重叠。某些情况下,诊断标准要求同时存在记忆受损的表现以及特定的生物标记物。然而,这些修订的标准有几大不足:需要有训练有素的临床医生才能明确区分不同的阶段;诊断标准提及的生物标记物在AD的发生和发展中的作用仍然不明确;需要由训练有素的技术人员使用昂贵的高科技设备来评估这些生物标记物。上述问题限制了这些诊断标准的临床应用,资源匮乏的地方受限更甚,因为那里负责诊断和治疗AD患者的临床医生获得的培训有限,并且还缺少设备来确定上述生物标记物。.

中文全文: 本文全文中文版从2015年6月6日起在http://dx.doi.org/10.11919/j.issn.1002-0829.215001可供免费阅览下载.

Keywords: India; anxiety disorders; case report; visual hallucinations.