Dementia

Abstract

The human brain is largely postmitotic, with limited ability for repair or regeneration in response to age- or disease-related neuropathologic alterations. The study by Schneider et al.1 provides a sobering view of our brain’s longevity by showing that the majority of older community-dwelling persons, regardless of the presence or absence of dementia, have significant brain pathology, not just one pathology but several. Schneider et al. examined the brains of 141 volunteers who had undergone careful (longitudinal) clinical screenings for this clinical-pathologic cohort study of aging. They concluded that the majority of these older individuals had neuropathology that could have a functional impact, and that those persons with multiple pathologies were more likely to have overt signs of dementia. As better treatments for non-CNS medical conditions allow our elderly population to live longer, the impact of this age-associated neuropathology should be of concern to neurologists managing geriatric patients. There have been previous studies of aging neuropathology showing significant abnormalities in the brain before dementia develops2–4; …