Few cases of dementia are noted in the medical archives of antiquity. Does this mean that it did not exist at the time?
The history of dementia
Dementia, which designates symptoms relating to memory loss, is multiplying around the world. In 2020, there were 55 million people with dementia in the world. A number that should double every 20 years. According to a study, dementia was rare in antiquity.
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According to Caleb Finch, university professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and the main author of the dedicated study, the Greeks of Antiquity made very little mention of this type of symptoms related to dementia, and if they made it, they were talking about “Very light cognitive deficit”.
Dementia constantly evolving?
On the side of the Romans, however, at least four declarations would suggest rare cases of “advanced dementia”, according to Caleb Finch. Although these archives are too vague to attest that it is Alzheimer's disease, it seems that there has been a tiny progression of the disease between the Greeks and the Romans.
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After combing the Greco -Roman medical texts between -viii and the 3rd century AD. AD, Caleb Finch and his team did not find more mentions equivocal to dementia as we know it in modern times. However, in Rome, centuries later, Galien and Pliny the old described cases of the elderly who forgot until their name, or noted a notorious difficulty in the acquisition of new knowledge.
Madness and dementia, to be nuanced according to the eras
If the increase in cases of dementia is observable during the period when the urbanization of society was booming, it is no coincidence. According to researchers, city life could contribute, and worsen with sedentary lifestyle, exposure to air pollution …
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According to Pierre-Henri Ortiz, historian, teacher-researcher at the University of Angers and author of a thesis approaching the theme of madness among the Romans, madness was at the time “not fatality“Because it was considered”A temporary and heightable state “. Although dementia and madness are two distinct notions, this conclusion shows that each era has a different relationship with cognitive decline and reason.
Sources: Univ Angers, Iflscience, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
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