Krista Lanctôt, PhD, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, addresses how Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is starting to be identified much earlier on in its development and notes the benefits this has on patient quality of life. AD is now an umbrella term which includes the prodromal phases of the disease, which is largely due the advent of molecular biomarkers which can define people at risk much earlier in the disease process. The same applies to neuropsychiatric symptoms in AD, which is why the NPS-PIA have developed a checklist for the diagnosis of mild behavioral impairment (MBI). It is important that these neuropsychiatric symptoms are identified early, since it is known that they are key predictors of decreased quality of life. Therefore, even if intervention cannot change the trajectory of the disease, symptomatic treatments are still implicated so that patients have the best quality of life possible whilst their cognitive ability is still intact. This interview took place at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2022 in San Diego, CA.
