Early-Stage Alzheimer Primer: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Assessment

Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia; in the United States alone, approximately 5.8 million people are living with the disease. This slide presentation offers education about AD pathogenesis, trajectory, and diagnostic criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders, Fifth Edition, and from the National Institute on Aging–Alzheimer’s Association. To diagnose mild cognitive impairment and early-stage AD, clinicians should employ a stepwise process that includes the following: cognitive screening, laboratory assessments, structural imaging of the brain, full neuropsychologic assessment (if warranted), and biomarker confirmation.