Why Has Alzheimer's Disease Research Been Neglected? (1:04)
Alzheimer's disease research should be more of a priority, according to neurologist Dr. Greg Petsko. Watch the video to learn why this devastating disease is being neglected.
Read Transcript
That's a great question. I think there are a number of reasons why this has been a sort of neglected disease are. One of them is that, old mental illness is sort of stigmatized in the society, and when you add to the fact that this a metaluminous that's perceived as affecting mostly old people, and we're youth obsessed culture. Those two things combined to make the Alzheimer's patient an invisible person.
Now, you could imagine that even if that were true, the Alzheimer's care givers would be advocating vigorously for more funding for Alzheimer's research, and better support for Alzheimer's patients, but they can't do that because caring for Alzheimer's patients is a 24/7 job, and they are emotionally, physically, and financially worn out by that process, by the time it's all over. So it's a combination of factors that means there's nobody out there really pushing for people to take this as seriously as they need to. The usual suspects for who will be doing that can't.
Alzheimer's disease is one of the greatest threats to the health of Americans and American healthcare. Top experts, including Rudy Tanzi, PhD, discuss the symptoms of Alzheimer's, how to prevent it and what's on the horizon for treatment.
