Annette Leibing

Consciência da doença na demência: resultados preliminares em pacientes com doença de Alzheimer leve e moderada

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the presence and the level of awareness of disease in mild and moderate Alzheimers disease (AD). METHOD: Cross-sectional evaluation of patients with mild/moderate AD (n=42) assessed by Assessment of Psychosocial Impact of the Dementia Diagnosis (APSID), Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR). RESULTS: Awareness of disease and its consequences were present in 66.7% patients with mild AD (n=18). In moderate AD (n=24), 20.8% presented total awareness, 45.8% presented only awareness of cognitive symptoms. Unawareness of disease was observed in 33.3%. CONCLUSIONS: The present data show association between awareness and level of severity of disease. CDR 1 patients show a better recognition of cognitive and daily life activity symptoms, whereas CDR 2 patients recognized their cognitive symptoms but failed to appraise their severity and consequences in daily life activities.

Situated Prevention: Framing the “New Dementia”

This article is about the recent and profound changes in the conceptualization of dementia, especially the turn towards prevention. The main argument is that more attention needs to be paid to “situated prevention” — the framing of internationally circulating data on the “new dementia” in different contexts. After introducing some of the more problematic issues related to the “new dementia,” a first comparison of major preventive clinical trials in Europe and in North America will be provided. The major insight stemming from situating the global message of preventing dementia is recognition of the responsibility researchers and policy makers bear with respect to the implicit and potential moral narratives in emerging scientific landscapes.