====== Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE) ======

//LATE// describes a prevalent age-related medical condition which leads to impaired memory and thinking. It's extremely common in people over 85 - some recent studies putting the rate as high as 60% ([[https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awae212/7700928|ref.]])

It can only be unequivocally diagnosed at autopsy, and is very often confused with [[content:medicine:diseases:a-f:alzheimers]] and other forms of Dementia.

The 'TDP-43' in the name refers to an important human protein known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAR_DNA-binding_protein_43|'TAR DNA-binding protein 43']] . In LATE, it's known that the prevalence of a  'mis-folded' version of the protein increases in brain tissues. This problem was only discovered in the mid 1990s, and the disease was not named LATE until 2019. ([[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6736234/|ref.]])

It is not currently known why the proteins mis-fold, or why they accumulate in certain brain regions such as the amygdala and hippocampus.

It's thought likely that various lifestyle, genetic and/or environmental conditions may contribute to LATE's prevalence.