Alzheimer’s disease organizations and healthcare providers use various terms to describe the stages of Alzheimer’s disease based on symptoms.
While the terms vary, the stages all follow the same pattern — AD symptoms progressively worsen over time.
No two people experience AD in the same way, though. Each person with Alzheimer’s disease will progress through the stages at different speeds. Not all changes will occur in each person. It can sometimes be difficult for providers to place a person with AD in a specific stage as stages may overlap.
Some organizations and providers frame the stages of Alzheimer’s disease in terms of dementia:
Preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s disease.
Mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.
Moderate dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease
Severe dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.
Other organizations and providers more broadly explain the stages as:
Mild.
Moderate.
Severe.
Or:
Early.
Middle.
Late.
Don’t be afraid to ask your healthcare provider or your loved one’s provider what they mean when they use certain words to describe the stages of Alzheimer’s.
