1. Are Disease Modifying Treatments Enough? Improving Quality of Life in Late-Stage Patients
- Author
-
Allyson C. Rosen, Ashley H. Langston, and Leslie Toy
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Decision Making ,Disease ,Poor quality ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Alzheimer Disease ,medicine ,Dementia ,Humans ,Ethics, Medical ,Intensive care medicine ,business.industry ,General Neuroscience ,Palliative Care ,Late stage ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Large cohort ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Clinical Psychology ,030104 developmental biology ,Quality of Life ,Chronic disability ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,business ,Neuroethics ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
The potential for successful disease modifying treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) opens up the possibility that there will be a large cohort of patients living with late-stage dementia and poor quality of life. There must thus be a parallel effort to leverage restorative therapies that improve quality of life in these patients. With the potential for stopping the onset of AD in new patients must come a commitment to those patients living with this chronic disability for many more years than first thought. Legal and ethical implications surrounding who makes decisions and equity in receiving care will become increasingly important if AD is no longer a terminal illness.
- Published
- 2019