Inside STAT: Role of seizures in Alzheimer’s is gaining overdue attention 

LOW-LEVEL HYPERACTIVITY HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS — A BRAIN REGION CRITICAL TO MEMORY — OF OLDER PEOPLE WITH MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT.(DOM SMITH/STAT)

For the longest time, scientists believed that seizures in people with Alzheimer’s disease were just another sign of a deteriorating brain. And they thought seizures happened only in the later stages of the condition. But new research suggests such abnormal electrical activity can occur earlier in the disease process, and that seizures are common in Alzheimer’s patients. In one study, a quarter of patients who were admitted to a hospital following their first seizure went on to develop dementia. These recent findings could help researchers better understand how Alzheimer’s develops and progresses, something that has been notoriously difficult to understand. STAT contributor Lauren Aguirre has more here.