19岁男孩患阿尔茨海默病！网友慌了：我是健忘还是……

来源：科技日报，央广网，新京报，中国日报双语新闻，global times 作者：21ST 日期: 2023-02-09

近日，首都医科大学宣武医院贾建平团队在国际刊物《阿尔茨海默病期刊》发表论文，论文介绍了一名17岁时发生记忆失常、19岁时被临床诊断为阿尔茨海默病（Alzheimer's disease）的病例。

图源：阿尔茨海默症杂志官网截图

这是迄今为止最年轻的患者，改写世界上对阿尔茨海默病发病年龄的认识，在世界阿尔茨海默病研究史上，首次提出青年人也有发生非遗传性阿尔茨海默病的可能。相关话题引发广泛关注，并迅速登上微博热搜。

A Beijing-based expert team has reported the world's first case of a 19-year-old adolescent with Alzheimer's disease (AD), a condition normally associated with elderly people.

The team, led by Jia Jianping from the Innovation Center for Neurological Disorders, Xuanwu hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University, released the research results in a peer-reviewed medical journal called Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

The study confirmed that AD is no longer a disease exclusive to the elderly. Jia called for more attention to the possibility of AD occurring in younger people, which will become a challenging issue in the future.

阿尔茨海默病（AD）是一种进行性发展的神经退行性疾病。患者往往产生记忆障碍、失语、失用、失认、视空间技能损害、执行功能障碍以及人格和行为改变等。

年龄是阿尔茨海默病的重要危险因素。自1906年报道第一例阿尔茨海默病病例以来，人们普遍认为阿尔茨海默病主要发生在老年人中，甚至直接将该病称为“老年性痴呆”。在青年人中很少发生认知障碍，更不用说是阿尔茨海默病。

2022年9月，国家卫生健康委老龄司司长王海东介绍，阿尔茨海默病是老年期痴呆最主要的类型，国内60岁及以上老年人中约有1500万痴呆患者，其中1000万是阿尔茨海默病患者。

图源：视觉中国

Since the first case of AD was reported in 1906, it has been widely believed that AD mainly occurs in the elderly. AD is a chronic neurodegenerative disease with slow onset and gradual loss of cognition, memory and speech and an increase in mental disorders over time, eventually leading to inability to take care of oneself. It is currently difficult to treat the disease.

而据论文显示，这名因为进行性的记忆衰退来宣武医院求医的19岁男孩，在两年前于高中就读时，就发现难以集中注意力到学习上，此后开始受困于明显的短期记忆缺失，比如他会无法想起一天前发生的事情，或者忘记自己的个人物品放在哪里。

该患者还会出现阅读和反应困难，渐渐地，他的记忆越来越糟，会不时丢东西，甚至记不得自己有没有吃东西。尽管在发病前他的学习表现处于中上水平，但他最终无法完成自己的学业，不得不退学。不过，该患者仍然能独立生活。

论文中表示，医院为患者做了多种检查，包括当前用于诊断阿尔茨海默病的最权威手段——脑脊液指标检测和PET扫描，患者还接受了多种量表测试。扫描影像等显示，患者存在轻度的脑萎缩等症状，部分脑脊液指标也存在异常，最终患者被临床诊断为阿尔茨海默病患者。

论文中发布的患者脑部影像

The patient developed memory disorders at 17 years old and was then diagnosed with AD at 19. The patient first began to have difficulty concentrating on learning. One year later, the patient suffered significant short-term memory loss, an inability to recall the previous day's events or where personal belongings were stored, as well as difficulty reading and slow reactions, according to Jia's team.

Later the patient continued to suffer gradual memory decline, even struggling to remember having eaten. As a result, the patient had to drop out of high school. The gender of the patient is unknown.

论文称，该患者是目前已被报道的符合阿尔茨海默病诊断标准的最年轻病例。此外，该患者没有家族遗传病史，找不到其他引起记忆障碍的病因如遗传、感染和系统性疾病。经过全基因组测序，未发现该患者携带任何风险或致病基因突变，排除了家族性AD的可能，其发病机制尚需进一步研究。

Jia's team said that the patient has no family history of AD and no other causes of memory impairment such as genetic issues, infections or other diseases.

为此，贾建平研究团队在世界阿尔茨海默病研究史上首次提出青年人也有发生非遗传性阿尔茨海默病的可能，引起广泛关注。贾建平教授指出，青年人记忆障碍可能受遗传因素（如致病或风险基因突变、表观遗传学）、环境因素、家庭教育和不健康的生活方式（如不健康饮食、酗酒、吸烟、缺乏体育活动）的影响，社会应更加关注青年人的脑健康及相关影响因素，使他们可以被及时发现并得到有效诊治，从而更加茁壮成长。

这一论文经媒体报道后，引发网友热议，不少人表示自己也有记忆力减退的情况。