比尔·盖茨建议，为美国60岁以上人群的常规体检增加一项新内容：通过血液检测筛查阿尔茨海默症风险，并据此提供早期预防性用药。
这位微软（Microsoft）创始人长期积极参与全球疾病预防项目。未来几年，他或将进一步加大在该领域的行动力度。盖茨已向其慈善基金会下达新任务：他将把自己绝大部分财富（约1,000亿美元）捐赠给该基金会，条件是须在未来20年内将这笔资金全部投入使用。
连同现有资产与预期增长在内，其基金会未来可支配的资金总额预计将达到约2,000亿美元，重点用于攻克可预防疾病，其中包括盖茨尤为关注的阿尔茨海默症。这位科技巨头的父亲老比尔·盖茨曾罹患阿尔茨海默症，于2020年去世，享年94岁。
盖茨对阿尔茨海默症等疾病的治愈前景有着独特见解，这不仅源于他的家庭亲历——其家人曾受到这种导致记忆与认知能力退化的脑部疾病影响，也因为他作为全球公共人物，能直接影响各国政策制定者与决策层。
盖茨指出，从美国的经济与社会层面来看，治愈阿尔茨海默症等疾病不仅能减轻家庭负担，也能缓解社会福利制度的压力。
盖茨在接受CBS《周日早晨》节目采访时表示：“当一个国家进入老龄化社会时，就会出现大量慢性疾病，这些疾病会消耗大量资源。”未来，富裕且老龄化程度较高的国家将从应对急性病转向应对慢性病。“因此，集中力量攻克几种主要疾病是非常明确的当务之急，其中阿尔茨海默症首当其冲。”
盖茨目前正资助多家机构研发基于血液的诊断测试，用以检测一种名为“淀粉样蛋白”的特定物质——它被视为阿尔茨海默症早期发展的关键标志物。
盖茨补充说，理想状态下，患者应在出现任何症状之前就能得到治疗。当被问及是否应将阿尔茨海默症检测纳入常规体检时，他回答道：“对普通人群而言，大概从60岁起，这应该成为常规血液检测的一部分。这种检测成本相对较低，如果这些方法被证明有效，且副作用降低，就应该被纳入常规体检。如果血液检测显示淀粉样蛋白水平偏高，患者就能获得相应的清除药物保障。”
盖茨表示，这类药物未来可能以自我注射或静脉输液的方式使用，以预防阿尔茨海默症的发生。但他也指出，要实现这一目标，“仍需完成若干关键步骤”。
一直工作到九十岁
人类健康寿命延长带来的另一个好处是，劳动力规模随之扩大。当前，各国的决策者既要面对老龄化人口带来的护理与财政压力，又要解决因出生率下降而导致的劳动力不足问题。
但盖茨认为，得益于疾病预防的进步，只要人们愿意，完全可以延长工作年限，在高龄阶段继续从事有意义的工作。这有助于缓解因医疗成本增加而加重的劳动力压力，从而重新平衡经济运行所需的人力资源。
他补充说，有些人可能会对这些想法持怀疑态度，“很多人看到一些社会趋势时会有些悲观。我常对他们说：‘想象一下：如果我们能几乎完全预防阿尔茨海默症，你在七八十岁，甚至幸运的话到九十岁，依然可以健康地承担祖辈角色，或者如果你愿意，还能继续工作，这样的社会如何？’”
盖茨接着说道：“当然，他们对这种可能性还半信半疑。但他们已经见证了心脏病治疗的进步，也看到了癌症研究的突破。而在这些领域，未来十年，我们会取得更大突破。这是完全可能实现的，而且是件非常令人欣喜的事情。”（*）
译者：刘进龙
审校：汪皓
比尔·盖茨建议，为美国60岁以上人群的常规体检增加一项新内容：通过血液检测筛查阿尔茨海默症风险，并据此提供早期预防性用药。
这位微软（Microsoft）创始人长期积极参与全球疾病预防项目。未来几年，他或将进一步加大在该领域的行动力度。盖茨已向其慈善基金会下达新任务：他将把自己绝大部分财富（约1,000亿美元）捐赠给该基金会，条件是须在未来20年内将这笔资金全部投入使用。
连同现有资产与预期增长在内，其基金会未来可支配的资金总额预计将达到约2,000亿美元，重点用于攻克可预防疾病，其中包括盖茨尤为关注的阿尔茨海默症。这位科技巨头的父亲老比尔·盖茨曾罹患阿尔茨海默症，于2020年去世，享年94岁。
盖茨对阿尔茨海默症等疾病的治愈前景有着独特见解，这不仅源于他的家庭亲历——其家人曾受到这种导致记忆与认知能力退化的脑部疾病影响，也因为他作为全球公共人物，能直接影响各国政策制定者与决策层。
盖茨指出，从美国的经济与社会层面来看，治愈阿尔茨海默症等疾病不仅能减轻家庭负担，也能缓解社会福利制度的压力。
盖茨在接受CBS《周日早晨》节目采访时表示：“当一个国家进入老龄化社会时，就会出现大量慢性疾病，这些疾病会消耗大量资源。”未来，富裕且老龄化程度较高的国家将从应对急性病转向应对慢性病。“因此，集中力量攻克几种主要疾病是非常明确的当务之急，其中阿尔茨海默症首当其冲。”
盖茨目前正资助多家机构研发基于血液的诊断测试，用以检测一种名为“淀粉样蛋白”的特定物质——它被视为阿尔茨海默症早期发展的关键标志物。
盖茨补充说，理想状态下，患者应在出现任何症状之前就能得到治疗。当被问及是否应将阿尔茨海默症检测纳入常规体检时，他回答道：“对普通人群而言，大概从60岁起，这应该成为常规血液检测的一部分。这种检测成本相对较低，如果这些方法被证明有效，且副作用降低，就应该被纳入常规体检。如果血液检测显示淀粉样蛋白水平偏高，患者就能获得相应的清除药物保障。”
盖茨表示，这类药物未来可能以自我注射或静脉输液的方式使用，以预防阿尔茨海默症的发生。但他也指出，要实现这一目标，“仍需完成若干关键步骤”。
一直工作到九十岁
人类健康寿命延长带来的另一个好处是，劳动力规模随之扩大。当前，各国的决策者既要面对老龄化人口带来的护理与财政压力，又要解决因出生率下降而导致的劳动力不足问题。
但盖茨认为，得益于疾病预防的进步，只要人们愿意，完全可以延长工作年限，在高龄阶段继续从事有意义的工作。这有助于缓解因医疗成本增加而加重的劳动力压力，从而重新平衡经济运行所需的人力资源。
他补充说，有些人可能会对这些想法持怀疑态度，“很多人看到一些社会趋势时会有些悲观。我常对他们说：‘想象一下：如果我们能几乎完全预防阿尔茨海默症，你在七八十岁，甚至幸运的话到九十岁，依然可以健康地承担祖辈角色，或者如果你愿意，还能继续工作，这样的社会如何？’”
盖茨接着说道：“当然，他们对这种可能性还半信半疑。但他们已经见证了心脏病治疗的进步，也看到了癌症研究的突破。而在这些领域，未来十年，我们会取得更大突破。这是完全可能实现的，而且是件非常令人欣喜的事情。”（*）
译者：刘进龙
审校：汪皓
Bill Gates wants to add a new element to routine medicals for Americans over the age of 60: Blood tests that identify whether the patient may be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and as such, be offered preventative medication.
The Microsoft founder is heavily involved with programs to prevent disease across the globe, efforts that will likely ramp up in the coming years after he issued his philanthropic foundation with a task: He would donate the vast majority of his wealth, some $100 billion, to the body as long as the funds are spent within the next 20 years.
The funds, which will total approximately $200 billion between current endowments and projected growth, will focus on curing preventable diseases—one of which Gates hopes will be Alzheimer’s. The tech titan’s father, Bill Gates Sr., died in 2020 at the age of 94, having battled with Alzheimer’s himself.
Gates has unique insight into how an illness like Alzheimer’s—a progressive brain disorder which leads to a decline in memory and skills—can be cured, not only as someone whose family has been impacted by the disease, but also as a public figure with the ear of policy and decision-makers around the world.
From a U.S. perspective, on both an economic and social scale, curing a disease like Alzheimer’s not only alleviates pressure on families, but on the welfare state as well, he said.
“Whenever you have an aging society, you have lots of these chronic diseases that can be a huge drain on resources,” Gates told CBS Sunday morning in a clip aired yesterday. Moving forward, richer, older nations will see a shift from acute medical problems to chronic diseases. “So going after a few diseases, where Alzheimer’s is number one by quite a bit, the imperative is very, very clear,” he added.
As part of his work, Gates is supporting organizations developing blood-based diagnostic tests that identify a specific protein called amyloids, which can be markers for the disease developing.
Ideally, Gates added, patients would be cured of the disease before they ever even started exhibiting symptoms. When asked whether testing for Alzheimer’s should be embedded in wider health checks, Gates responded: “For the broad population, probably once you turn 60 or so, that should be part of the routine blood test. It’s a fairly inexpensive test, and so if these tools prove to work and we get the side-effect level down, then it would become routine that if you test high for the amyloid in your blood then you’d be insured to get those clearing drugs.”
Such medication may be in the form of a self-injection or an infusion, he added, “to prevent you from developing Alzheimer’s.” However, there are “a few steps yet to come together,” he added.
Working into your 90s
With a healthier-for-longer population also comes the benefit of having a larger workforce. At present, policymakers are grappling with the care and cost of an older population, without the same number of workers to replace them due to declining birth rates.
But Gates argues that thanks to prevention, people could work meaningfully longer if they wanted to. This, neatly, would also help rebalance the strain on the workforce needed to power the economy through increased costs of care.
Some people might be skeptical of such ideas, he added: “Many people look at some trends in society and they get a little bit negative. And I say to them: ‘What about a society where we can prevent almost all of Alzheimer’s, and your 70s. 80s, even if you’re luck your 90s, you’re fully capable as grandparent or if you want to continue working.’
“They’re a little skeptical that something like that is happening,” he continued. “They’ve seen progress in heart disease, they’ve seen progress in cancer, but in those, as well as the next 10 years, we are going to get a lot better. And so it’s possible, like wow that is a very positive thing.”