Alzheimer's disease: A study of assessment and stages

Abstract

This investigation was performed for the purpose of determining whether the majority of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients have well defined symptoms during the course of the disease that make it possible to characterize thefunctional level of the patient. There are numerous classifications of the stages of AD. The simplest of these classifications divide the disease into three stages (see Table 1). 1. Onset (Light) 2. Middle (Moderate) 3. Terminal (Severe) From a predictive standpoint it is important to know definable steps in the progression of the disease and when a patient passes from one stage into the next stage. This assessment has importance both in terms of caregiving procedures as well as medicinal therapy, e.g., medication, and long term care provisions. The Alzheimer's Family Center, Inc. (AFC) has researched data on 12 AD patients who were reviewed in a two-year retrospective study (see Table 2).