Does the prevention of brain ageing constitute anti-ageing medicine? Outline of a new space of representation for Alzheimer's Disease

In this paper we pose the question: Does the prevention of brain ageing constitute anti-ageing medicine? We answer the question by looking at recent changes in the knowledge and organisational structure of dementia research, practice and policy and investigating the boundary relations between this disease-specific field and anti-ageing medicine. Drawing on a qualitative study of the ways in which different clinical and scientific constituencies work to define, organise and negotiate the boundaries between normal and abnormal cognitive aging, we suggest that the field of dementia research, practice and policy has experienced internal diversification forming a ‘new space of representation'. We show how this space is structured by two axes: one that relates to how AD is conceptualised and another that concerns the modes of intervention or actions that will prevent the condition in individuals or populations. We argue that while these changes have blurred the epistemic boundaries between dementia and other fields of research, there are still strong institutional, economic and political factors that glue the field together.