Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease normally associated with the elderly, but a team of Chinese researchers has discovered a unique case to say the least: a 19-year-old from Beijing who has been diagnosed with the disease. The one studied by the group of experts, led by Jia Jianping of the Innovation Center for Neurological Disorders, Xuanwu hospital affiliated to the Capital Medical University, could be the earliest case of Alzheimer’s ever recorded in the world. The results of the study carried out by the team of experts were published in the specialized scientific journal “Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease”.
Alzheimer’s patient at 19: the case in China
The young man began to have difficulty concentrating at the age of 17 and the following year he began to suffer from short-term memory loss: he could not remember where he had put his things as well as the previous day’s events. He has also experienced delayed reactions and difficulty reading. He subsequently continued to suffer from a gradual decline in memory, even struggling to remember eating. As a result, he had to drop out of school.
Jia’s team said the patient has no family history of AD and no other causes of memory impairment such as genetic problems, infections or other diseases. In a statement, the researchers stressed that their findings challenge the commonly held belief that Alzheimer’s disease is unique to the elderly. “The study proposed paying attention to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease,” they explained. “Exploring the mysteries of young people with Alzheimer’s disease could become one of the most challenging scientific questions of the future.”
Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, which affects people under the age of 65, is considered uncommon, accounting for only 5-10% of all known cases. Almost all patients under the age of 30 have pathological genetic mutations (PS1, PS2, APP). The previous youngest Alzheimer’s patient was a 21-year-old who had such a genetic mutation. However, the 19-year-old Chinese does not have any of the genetic mutations identified so far linked to dementia. This makes the case unique because it is a form of early Alzheimer’s never seen before.