Alzheimer's disease therapy: Relating clinical information to patients and caregivers

Alzheimer's disease is a protracted illness, involving a decade of endurance for patients, families, and caregivers. The therapy options are not a cure-all, and individual response is variable, and so may not be reflected in either guidelines that treat all patients the same or in clinical trial data, which look at the aggregate of patients rather than the individual. This article discusses the need to inform patients and caregivers of treatment options, advise them about the realistic expectations of treatment (drug and non-drug), and remind them that these interventions, for the most part, only slow the symptomatic progression of disease. Stabilization should be viewed as a positive outcome; in some patients, the long-term outcome can be altered for the better.