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Experts now believe that the number of people with Alzheimer's disease is twice as high as expected.
In the United States, according to the Alzheimer's Association, 5.8 million people live with this debilitating disease and this number is expected to reach nearly 14 million by 2050.
Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, however, believe that many more people are likely already living with this disease without official diagnosis.
They use brain imaging to give a precise answer as to the number of people affected.
Tests on 2,500 people showed that twice as many people had signs of protein plaques and entanglements in the brain, markers of Alzheimer's disease, even though they did not have dementia.
Twice the numbers actually have the disease
Dr. Jack Clifford, Professor of Alzheimer's Research at the Mayo Clinic of the Alexander Family, told The Telegraph newspaper, "The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease is entirely based on clinical evaluation. It's just based on the question "Do you have dementia?"
But, he warned, the presence of biomarkers that typically define Alzheimer's disease tends to be about twice as high as the number of cases diagnosed in clinics.
"Alzheimer's disease, defined in a traditional way, underestimates people with the disease but does not have symptoms," he said.
"Many more people suffer from the disease, but do not show symptoms, just as many more people with hypertension than a stroke, or many more people with diabetes than people who have have become blind. "
A late diagnosis means that no treatment has been found
Do not diagnose the disease early enough – before the onset of symptoms – is one of the reasons why all clinical trials have failed so far and for which it does not exist yet curative treatment.
Clifford told the newspaper that he thought the drugs were working but they were often given too late.
Once you have lost your memory, the brain cells have already been destroyed, which is irreversible.
To be effective, they must be administered before the symptoms appear.
Another problem is that not everyone who participates in Alzheimer's trials is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Last month, experts appointed a new strain of dementia.
"Late disease" mimics the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, but patients do not have the same biomarkers.
Clifford went on to say that nearly 30% of people who are told in clinics that they have Alzheimer's disease probably do not have it.
The hope is that a blood test will soon be available to detect Alzheimer's disease long before symptoms begin to appear, making it easier to manage.
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