HD34 - Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Pursuant to HJR 309

  • Published: 1986
  • Author: General Assembly and Special Commission
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 309 (Regular Session, 1985)

Executive Summary:
PURPOSE

The 1985 Virginia General Assembly established, via House Joint Resolution No. 309, a Commission on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders to determine the needs of Alzheimer and other dementia victims and their families and to determine the feasibility of establishing regional dementia centers throughout the Commonwealth.

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

Alzheimer's disease was first described in 1906 by the German neurologist, Alois Alzheimer, who recounted the story of a 51-year-old patient with loss of memory and disorientation, and whose condition was later complicated by depression, hallucinations, severe dementia and death. Upon death, her brain was found to show severe atrophy (shrinkage) and the cerebral cortex (outer layer of the brain) was marked by a clumping and distortion of fibers in the nerve cells. Alzheimer called these jumbles of filaments neurofibrillary tangles, and they have since become the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. (*1)

Today, Alzheimer's disease is labeled Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (SDAT). "It is a neurological disorder characterized by a progressive and irreversible deterioration of cognitive functions such as memory, attention and judgment." (*2) Alzheimer's begins subtly and gradually with the loss of memory and ends in a terminal vegetative state. Though there is substantial variation in the duration and the rate of progression of the disease - Alzheimer's may last a few years to a few decades - younger patients tend to have worse cases which progress to vegetation more rapidly.

In defining Alzheimer's disease, it is important to state that it is not hardening of the arteries, the natural course of aging, the aftermath of a stroke, the result of alcoholism or blows to the head, depression, or a communicable disease. (*3)
_________________________________
(*1) "Proposed Report on Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type," Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1981).

(*2) "Alzheimer's Disease: Joint Hearing before the Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care of the Select Committee on Aging and the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, 98th Congress, 1st Session, August 3, 1983" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1984), pp. 4-6.

(3) "Alzheimer's Disease: An Information Paper Prepared for the Use of the Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care of the Select Committee on Aging, House of Representatives, 98th Congress, 1st Session (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1983) p. 5.