ReviewEuropean journal of neurology2024
What is Alzheimer's disease? An analysis of nosological perspectives from the 20th and 21st centuries.
Review in European journal of neurology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The biological scaling of Alzheimer's disease neuropathological changes across primate species.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Pooled it
- Comparing the efficacy of physical therapy interventions in Alzheimer's disease: a network meta-analysis.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Physical exercise as a therapeutic strategy in animal models of Alzheimer's disease: Molecular, behavioral, and histopathological evidence.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2026Review
- Alzheimer's Disease as a Multi-Layer Network Disorder: A Systems Biology Framework Integrating Multi-Omics Mechanisms.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Sustainable Synthesis of 3-(1H-Indol-3-yl)propionic Acid Derivatives with Anti-Alzheimer Activity.ChemMedChem · 2026Article
- Amyloid-beta induces distinct forms of cell death in different neuronal populations.Cell death and differentiation · 2026Article
- Just Semantics? How Diagnostic Criteria Influence Physician-Patient Narratives in Alzheimer's Disease.Neuro-degenerative diseases · 2026Article
- Defining Alzheimer's disease: stipulations and the ethics of diagnostic change.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2026Article
- Differential downstream signaling in microglia lacking Alzheimer's-related TREM2 or its adaptor TYROBP/DAP12.Molecular neurodegeneration advances · 2026Article
- Biological definitions of synucleinopathies should be anchored in clinical trajectories and encompass the complex biology of the disease.Journal of Parkinson's disease · 2025Review
- Late-life emergence of neuropsychiatric symptoms and risk of cognitive impairment in cognitively unimpaired individuals.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Reducing confusion surrounding expert conceptions of Alzheimer's and dementia: A practical analysis.Journal of neuropsychology · 2025Article
- Merging multimodal digital biomarkers into "Digital Neuro Fingerprints" for precision neurology in dementias: the promise of the right treatment for the right patient at the right time in the age of AI.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Article
- 2024 AA criteria for Alzheimer's disease diagnosis: Mainly anchored at Aβ not tau.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- Alzheimer Disease as a Clinical-Biological Construct-An International Working Group Recommendation.JAMA neurology · 2024Article
- What is Alzheimer's disease? An analysis of nosological perspectives from the 20th and 21st centuries.European journal of neurology · 2024Review
- Editorial: On the 2024 Alzheimer's Association Criteria: Still Not Ready for Clinical Use.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecent US proposals suggest defining Alzheimer's disease (AD) based on β-amyloidosis alone. This sparked debates that echoed historical ones about the significance of brain lesions and clinical phenotype.
methodsThis review covers debates on AD nosology through three key periods: AD's discovery in German-speaking countries in the early 20th century, its redefinition in Anglo-Saxon countries in the 1960s-1980s, and current debates on the biological or clinicobiological definitions of AD. Key players' opinions are focused on.
resultsAt the beginning of the 20th century, AD was defined as a clinicopathological entity. Debates arose around the pathological anchor, which included extended neurofibrillary tangles versus neuritic plaques (Alzheimer vs. Fischer) and its association with senile dementia (Kraepelin). In the 1960s-1980s, the debate shifted towards whether AD could be diagnosed using qualitative or quantitative neuropathological features and whether it was a unique process (Terry and Katzman) or had subtypes (Roth). The current definition proposed by the US Alzheimer's Association is based purely on biological β-amyloid abnormalities and represents a double break: from the historical clinicopathological definition of AD and from the historical emphasis on tau or combined tau and β-amyloid high levels of pathology. Conversely, the clinicobiological proposal of the International Working Group remains aligned with historical concepts of AD.
conclusionsThis historical perspective illustrates the unresolved questions surrounding AD pathogenesis, role of lesions, and the clinical phenotype, especially for sporadic cases. The intense nosological debates throughout the history of AD also illustrate the diversity of theoretical frameworks for defining disease in medicine.
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