Not all of Dr. Richard Mayeux’s elderly patients have Alzheimer’s disease; not all will even go on to develop it. Most of them are still leading full, healthy lives, interacting with their families and contributing to their communities. But Mayeux, an Alzheimer’s researcher and physician at Columbia University, asks them all anyway: Will they help him in his war against the disease? It’s been a long and disappointing campaign so far. Alzheimer’s disease — the degenerative brain condition that is not content to kill its victims without first snuffing out their essence — has for decades simply laughed at such efforts. More than 5 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, a number that will grow to 13.4 million by 2050. There is no cure. The therapies that exist — drugs and lifestyle behaviors such as keeping the mind sharp with enriching social relationships and stimulating the brain with games and puzzles — can only delay, not stop, the onset of memory loss, confusion and cognitive decline that generally extend over a period of several years or, more often, decades. There isn’t even a definitive test for Alzheimer’s.
