Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with cognitive decline. Memory problems are typically among the first signs of cognitive impairment in AD, and they worsen considerably as the disease progresses. However, musical memory is partially spared in patients with AD, despite severe deficits in episodic (and partly semantic) memory. AD patients can learn new songs, encode novel verbal information, and react emotionally to music. These effects of music have encouraged the use and development of music therapy (MT) for AD management. MT is easy to implement and well-tolerated by most patients and their caregivers. Effects of MT in patients with AD include improved mood, reduced depressive scores and trait anxiety, enhanced autobiographical recall, verbal fluency, and cognition. Here, we review musical memory in AD, therapeutic effects of studies using MT on AD, and potential mechanisms underlying those therapeutic effects. We argue that, because AD begins decades before the presentation of clinical symptoms, music interventions might be a promising means to delay and decelerate the neurodegeneration in individuals at risk for AD, such as individuals with genetic risk or subjective cognitive decline.

中文翻译：

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阿尔茨海默病音乐疗法的前景：综述

阿尔茨海默病 (AD) 是一种与认知能力下降相关的进行性神经退行性疾病。记忆问题通常是 AD 认知障碍的最初迹象之一，并且随着疾病的进展，它们会大大恶化。然而，尽管情节（和部分语义）记忆存在严重缺陷，但 AD 患者的音乐记忆部分保留。AD 患者可以学习新歌，编码新的语言信息，并对音乐做出情绪反应。音乐的这些影响促进了音乐疗法 (MT) 在 AD 管理中的使用和发展。MT 易于实施，并且大多数患者及其护理人员都能很好地耐受。MT 对 AD 患者的影响包括改善情绪、降低抑郁评分和特质焦虑、增强自传回忆、语言流畅性和认知。这里，我们回顾了 AD 中的音乐记忆、使用 MT 对 AD 进行的研究的治疗效果，以及这些治疗效果背后的潜在机制。我们认为，由于 AD 在出现临床症状前几十年就开始了，因此音乐干预可能是一种有前途的方法，可以延缓和减缓有 AD 风险的个体（例如具有遗传风险或主观认知能力下降的个体）的神经变性。