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The Meanings of Alzheimer’s Disease

Daly, Timothy (2025) The Meanings of Alzheimer’s Disease. Philosophy of Medicine, 6 (1). pp. 1-11. ISSN 2692-3963

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease emerged around the 1900s as a rare disease that became synonymous with common dementia by the 1980s. In the 2010s, in vivo biomarkers of Alzheimer’s pathophysiology then led researchers to emphasize the presymptomatic biology of Alzheimer’s biomarkers, thus decentering dementia. Three consensus definitions were elaborated around biomarkers, and were rearticulated in 2024: biomarker-determined Alzheimer’s disease; biomarker-informed “clinical-biological” Alzheimer’s disease; and biomarker-independent, “all-cause” dementia. I consider their differences to hinge on the questionable legitimacy of the Alzheimer “biomarkerization” of aging. I encourage a focus on the actionable concept of brain health beyond Alzheimer’s to motivate equitable health promotion.


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Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Daly, Timothytimothy.daly@u-bordeaux.fr0000-0003-1650-242X
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease Concepts of health and disease Public health
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease
Specific Sciences > Medicine
Depositing User: Professor Alex Broadbent
Date Deposited: 12 May 2025 12:40
Last Modified: 12 May 2025 12:40
Item ID: 25284
Journal or Publication Title: Philosophy of Medicine
Publisher: University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
Official URL: https://philmed.pitt.edu/philmed/article/view/251
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.5195/pom.2025.251
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease
Specific Sciences > Medicine
Date: 9 May 2025
Page Range: pp. 1-11
Volume: 6
Number: 1
ISSN: 2692-3963
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/25284

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