Alzheimer’s disease (AD) represents a growing public health concern. While earlier estimates placed global dementia prevalence at around 50 million people, more recent evidence suggests that some form of AD may affect as many as 416 million individuals worldwide.¹ With increasing life expectancy and an ageing global population, this number is expected to rise even further in the coming decades, placing significant pressure on healthcare infrastructure and families.¹,²
Growing Need for Multidisciplinary Treatment
Despite decades of research and global efforts to find a cure, treatment options for AD remain limited.³,⁴ The amyloid cascade hypothesis—which implicates the accumulation of amyloid proteins in and around brain cells as the primary cause of AD—has long shaped the direction of therapeutic research.⁵ This has led to the development of anti-amyloid antibodies, some of which have received regulatory approval in the United States for their ability to reduce plaque burden and modestly slow disease progression.⁶
However, clinical trials have often produced mixed results, with many therapies showing limited effects on improving cognitive symptoms.³,⁴,⁶ Additionally, not all individuals diagnosed with AD exhibit significant plaque accumulation, while some people with substantial amyloid deposits show no measurable cognitive decline.⁴ This discrepancy has prompted growing scepticism about the clinical value of amyloid clearance as a singular therapeutic target. An increasing body of evidence now supports the view that AD is not a uniform disease, but a multifactorial syndrome. Contributing mechanisms may include insulin resistance, hormonal changes, vascular dysfunction, and chronic inflammation.⁴,⁵ This evolving understanding is driving a shift toward more comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment strategies that address the broader complexity of the condition.