Most people dread the inevitable phase in life that is aging and, what comes with it, forgetfulness.
Latest study has found that as early as 18 years before actually being diagnosed with the disease, the possibility of getting Alzheimer's can already be detected. This could further help us find ways on how to prevent it.
The study was authored by Kumar B. Rajan, PhD from the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and published in the online journal Neurology.
In the experiment, the researchers found that Alzheimer's may have effects on a person's memory and thinking ability before the patient is officially diagnosed. Even decades before Alzheimer's takes full effect, the disease can already have effects on mental corrosion. Preventive treatment should therefore start earlier, especially for patients with a family history of Alzheimer's.
For 18 years, the researchers monitored the memory and thinking skills of 2,125 participants. Through memory and thinking tests conducted every three years, they were able to compare data among European-Americans and African-Americans whose average age is at 73. Prior to the tests, the participants were known to be free of Alzheimer's.
The disease began to develop in a number of participants over the course of 18 years. 23 percent of the African-American participants and 17 percent of the European American participants gradually acquired Alzheimer's as the study progressed. The lower the average scores of the participants' were in the memory and thinking tests, the higher the risk of developing dementia became.
In the first year of the study, those with lower test scores were found to be 10 times more likely to be diagnosed with the disease. When the scores go lower than the average, odds increase by 10.
In test scores gathered from the 13th to the 18th years of the study, the researchers also found that an 85 percent greater risk of future dementia could result from those with one unit lower in performance of the standardized cognitive test score.
Rajan says that while they cannot currently identify changes in people who are at risk, the study conducted among select individuals showed that dementia can be eventually developed due to Alzheimer's.
"Efforts to successfully prevent the disease may well require a better understanding of these processes near middle age," Rajan adds.
Photo: Andreas Lindmark | Flickr
