There’s a new, major medical find in the tragic battle against Alzheimer’s disease: a new study has determined that the warning signs could appear 10 years before it’s diagnosed.
USA Today notes:
The new report underscores the scientific view that Alzheimer’s begins to injure the brain years before the hallmark symptoms of severe memory loss appear, says William Thies, spokesman for the Chicago-based Alzheimer’s Association. Very early identification of Alzheimer’s could become even more important in the future if researchers develop therapies that delay this degenerative brain disease, he says.
Such therapy is urgently needed: The population of Alzheimer’s victims is expected to rise from 4.5 million to as many as 16 million people by the year 2050.
What are some of the warning signs? Memory loss (like phone numbers, basic information); familiar routines become hard to do; problems with math including what the numbers mean; and confusion, such as getting lost from a regular place.
Lars Bäckman of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and his colleagues grouped together the findings from 47 scientific studies. They found a pattern of subtle thinking deficits that seemed more common in people destined to get Alzheimer’s. The team homed in on 1,207 older people who had been given cognitive tests years before getting a diagnosis. They compared them with 9,097 older people who had been given the same tests but who stayed healthy.
The team’s meta-analysis, a powerful statistical method that culls results from many studies, revealed that the people who would later develop Alzheimer’s showed small deficits in memory, a finding that fits with what is known about the way Alzheimer’s affects the brain.
The American Psychological Association offers a more detailed (and technical) press release about the study HERE.
The Daily Mail adds these facts:
However, the findings, published in the journal Neuropsychology, present experts with a problem.
Many of the symptoms mirror those seen in normal aging, only they are more pronounced. Making a reliable early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s will mean being able to spot the differences accurately.
In other words: doctors will have to work on and fine tune the ability to distinguish normal aging from Alzheimer’s symptoms. MORE:
The data also confirmed previous findings that Alzheimer’s develops with a period of early onset followed by relative stability until a few years before diagnosis. At this point, the patent’s condition plummets.
The study found that preclinical impairment was greatest when the disease started young and progressed quickly.
Which would certain suggest an old rule of thumb remains wise: get a yearly check up — and make it an exhaustive one.
MORE READINGS ON THIS SUBJECT
Alzheimer’s Association
Alzheimer’s Disease Fact Sheet
Alzheimer’s Disease International
Medicine Plus (LOTS of links 4 U)
Alzheimer’s Disease News
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.