The recent announcement that the number of Alzheimer’s cases worldwide may quadruple by 2050 — to 106 million! — got us thinking.  What do we actually know about this disease?

A huge amount of research has been published in the last few years.  Unfortunately, this can make it hard for new voices to enter the debate, potentially delaying the articulation of an important revolutionary perspective.  (Where to begin?)

To help overcome this barrier, the following is provided as a select bibliography of recent historical discussions — in peer reviewed journals — relating to Alois Alzheimer’s disease.

• Alzheimer, A.  (1991).  On certain peculiar diseases of old age.  History of Psychiatry, 2(5 pt1), 74-101.
• Amaducci, L. A., Rocca, W. A., & Schoenberg, B. S.  (1986).  Origin of the distinction between Alzheimer’s disease and senile dementia: How history can clarify nosology.  Neurology, 36(11), 1497-1499.
• Berrios, G. E.  (1990).  Alzheimer’s disease: A conceptual history.  International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 5(6), 355-365.
• Blass, J. P.  (2005).  Commentary on “Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: Two decades of progress.” Perspectives on “Perspectives”.  Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 1(2), 124-125.
• Burns, A., Byrne, E. J., & Maurer, K.  (2002).  Alzheimer’s disease.  Lancet, 360(9327), 163-165.
• Caselli, R. J., Beach, T. G., Yaari, R., & Reiman, E. M.  (2006).   Alzheimer’s disease a century later.  The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 67(11), 1784-1800.
• Cohen, G. D.  (2001).  Criteria for success in interventions for Alzheimer’s disease.  American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 9(2), 95-98.
• Förstl, H. & Howard, R.  (1991).  Recent studies on dementia senilis and brain disorders caused by atheromatous vascular disease: By A. Alzheimer, 1898.  Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, 5(4), 257-264.
• Förstl, H.  (2005).  Uncommon causes of dementia: an historical account.  International Psychogeriatrics, 17, s3-s15.
• Gaines, A. D. & Whitehouse, P. J.  (2006).  Building a Mystery: Alzheimer’s Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Beyond.  Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 13(1), 61-74.
• García-Albea, E. & Pérez Trullen, J. M.  (2003).  The Spanish School of Neurology and the First American Cases of Alzheimer‘s Disease.  Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 12(4), 437-445.
• Goldney, R. D.  (2004).  Kraepelin, Alzheimer and Munich.  Australasian Psychiatry, 12(1), 83.
• Graeber, M. B. & Mehraein, P.  (1999).  Reanalysis of the first case of Alzheimer’s disease.  European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 249(s3), 10-13.
• Gupta, R.  (2003).  Kraepelin, Alzheimer and Munich.  Australasian Psychiatry, 11(3), 341-343.
• Harada, K.  (1995).   The birth of the concepts of vascular dementia and Alzheimer-type dementia: A review of medical history since the 1870’s.  Seishin Igaku [Clinical Psychiatry], 37(11), 1132-1146.
• Hardy, J.  (2006).   A Hundred Years of Alzheimer’s Disease Research.  Neuron, 52(1), 3-13.
• Holstein, M.  (1997).  Alzheimer’s disease and senile dementia, 1885-1920: An interpretive history of disease negotiation.  Journal of Aging Studies, 11(1), 1-13.
• Kaplan, M. & Henderson, A. R.  (2000).  Solomon Carter Fuller, M.D. (1872-1953): American Pioneer in Alzheimer‘s Disease Research.  Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 9(3), 250-261.
• Khachaturian, Z. S.  (2005).  Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: Two decades of progress.  Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 1(2), 93-98.
• Khachaturian, Z. S.  (2005).  History of Alzheimer’s Research: The Politics of Science in Building a National Program of Research.  Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorder, 20(3, s2), s31-s34.
• Kreutzberg, G. W. & Gudden, W.  (1988).  Alois Alzheimer.  Trends in Neurosciences, 11(6), 256-257.
• Lacey, D.  (1999).  The evolution of care: A 100-year history of institutionalization of people with Alzheimer’s disease.  Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 31(3-4), 101-131.
• Lefroy, R. B.  (2000).  The legacy of Alois Alzheimer: An historical perspective.  American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 15(4), 252-255.
• Libon, D. J., Price, C. C., Heilman, K. M., & Grossman, M.  (2006).  Alzheimer’s “Other Dementia”.  Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology, 19(2), 112-116.
• Lishman, W. A.  (1991).  The evolution of research into the dementias.  Dementia, 2(4), 177-185.
• McCaddon, A.  (2006).  Homocysteine and cognition – A historical perspective.  Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 9(4), 361-380.
• Möller, H. J. & Graeber, M. B.  (1998).  The case described by Alois Alzheimer in 1911: Historical and conceptual perspectives based on the clinical record and neurohistological sections.  European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 248(3), 111-122.
• Morhardt, D.  (2006).  Educating medical students on Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders: An overview of the Northwestern University Buddy Program.  Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice, 5(3), 448-456.
• Page, S. & Fletcher, T.  (2006).  Auguste D.  Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice, 5(4), 571-583.
• Pardo, M. C. & Small, G. W.  (1989).  The Alzheimer’s disease research imperative.  American Journal of Psychiatry, 146(12), 1642-1643.
• Perry, G., Avila, J., Kinoshita, J., & Smith, M. A.  (2006).  Alzheimer’s disease: A century of scientific and clinical research.  [Special Issue.]  Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 9(s3), 1-453.
• Petersen, R. C.  (2005).  Commentary on “Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: Two decades of progress”.  Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 1(2), 122-123.
• Rikkert, M. G. M. O., Teunisse, J.-P., & Vernooij-Dassen, M.  (2005).  One hundred years of Alzheimer’s disease and the neglected second lesson of Aloïs Alzheimer on multicausality in dementia.  American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 20(5), 269-272.
• Roberson, E. D. & Mucke, L.  (2006).  100 Years and Counting: Prospects for Defeating Alzheimer’s Disease.  Science, 314(5800), 781-784.
• Schneider, L. S. & Dagerman, K. S.  (2004).  Psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease: Clinical characteristics and history.  Journal of Psychiatric Research, 38(1), 105-111.

• Weber, M. M.  (1997).  Aloys Alzheimer, a coworker of Emil Kraepelin.  Journal of Psychiatric Research, 31(6), 635-643.

See also:

• Ban, T. A.  (2001).  Pharmacotherapy of mental illness–A historical analysis.  Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 25(4), 709-727.

• Borch-Jacobsen, M.  (2001).  Making psychiatric history: madness as folie à plusieurs.  History of the Human Sciences, 14(2), 19-38.

• Cowan, W. M., Harter, D. H., & Kandel, E. R.  (2000).  The emergence of modern neuroscience: Some implications for neurology and psychiatry.  Annual Review of Neuroscience, 23, 343-391.

• Megill, A.  (1998).  History, memory, identity.  History of the Human Sciences, 11(3), 37-62.

If there are additional histories to be added to this list, or if something has been included here by mistake, please let us know.

-JTB.

Update (June 22, 2007): A new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information — entitled The Burden of Neurological Diseases, Disorders and Injuries in Canada — estimates that Alzheimer’s Disease costs taxpayers over $1.67 billion dollars a year.  This is second only to stroke in its impact.

-JTB.