Health
Gains in treating Alzheimer's
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 26, 2004
People who have early stage Alzheimer's disease may be capable of learning new techniques that enable them to better perform daily tasks, according to two small studies.
In one study, a group of 25 mildly impaired Alzheimer's patients who were trained in methods to improve face and name recognition had faster mental processing speeds and were better oriented to time and place than were subjects in a control group. The study was published in the July American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
In the second study, published in the June 10 Neuron, researchers determined that the implicit memory of items familiar from earlier years was still active in patients with early Alzheimer's.
"Taken together, these studies introduce the exciting notion that older people who are in the early stages of AD can be taught techniques to help stay engaged in everyday life," said Neil Buckholtz, PhD, head of the dementias of aging branch at the National Institute of Aging, which funded both studies.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/07/26/hlbf0726.htm.
