Great news in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases. According to a recent study, it would indeed be possible to detect dementia up to 10 years before the diagnosis of patients. Explanations.
When dementia is diagnosed, it is often too late. But good news: according to a recent study, the results of which were published in the journal Alzheimer & Dementia and relayed by the Daily mail, it would indeed be possible to detect the disease up to 10 years before patients are diagnosed. . To reach such a conclusion, the scientists analyzed data from half a million British participants aged 40 to 69.
In addition to collecting information about the participants’ health, they also had them take a series of tests that included problem solving, memory, reaction times and grip strength. Information was also collected on weight loss and gain and the number of falls.
All of this data was then compared to information collected between five and nine years earlier. “When we reviewed the patients’ histories, it became clear that they had cognitive impairment for several years before their symptoms became evident enough to trigger a diagnosis.” said Dr Nol Swaddiwudhipong, from the University of Cambridge.
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One step forward
Specifically, people who developed Alzheimer’s disease performed worse than healthy people on problem-solving tasks, reaction times, memorization of lists of numbers, prospective memory (our ability to remember to do something later) and pair matching. At the same time, they were more likely to have fallen in the previous 12 months.
Experts said the finding could lead to routine screening for those most at risk. They could benefit from early treatment and clinical trials.
As a reminder, there are currently very few effective treatments for dementia or other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. Diagnosing dementia much earlier could be a game-changer, scientists say.
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