Good Lifestyle

Dementia is one of the scariest risks associated with aging, affecting nearly 5.6 million Americans over the age of 65, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Currently, there is no cure for any kind of dementia, including the most common form, Alzheimer's disease. Researchers and health experts work to help those who already have the condition, while simultaneously trying to understand how the disease presents itself—and what can be done to stave it off. One recent study points to a notable sign that could serve as a predictor of the disease, which may help healthcare providers intervene earlier. Read on to find out how your body might be telling you that you're at risk.

Basahin ito sa susunod:Doing This at Night Makes You 30 Percent More Likely to Develop Dementia.

Diagnosing Alzheimer's disease presents a unique challenge, and historically, medical professionals were only been able to give a concrete diagnosis when examining a patient's brain after death. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is now possible to diagnose the disease "with more certainty" while patients are alive, thanks to new tests that check for biomarkers, which are signs of the condition.

Clinicians and researchers can do this with PET scans—imaging tests that check for diseases—or by testing plasma or cerebral spinal fluid to measure levels of amyloid and tau proteins, both of which accumulate abnormally in the brain of Alzheimer's disease patients. Pagsusuri ng dugo are also on the rise, with several in development, according to the National Institute on Aging (NIH), but due to limited availability, experts continue to search for more approaches. Now, a new study has identified one risk factor that could be a less invasive approach for early diagnosis.

Losing your sense of smell is something many of us have come to fear amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as it was once one of the telltale symptoms of the virus. But loss of smell could also be an early warning sign that you're at risk for Alzheimer's disease.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

A recent study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Diseaseprovides additional evidence that loss of smell is a warning sign for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) related to Alzheimer's disease. In fact, for every unit lower a patient scored on the Sniffin' Sticks Odor Identification Test, the risk of developing MCI shot up by a staggering 22 percent. And while not everyone who develops Alzheimer's has MCI, that milder cognitive decline often precedes the condition.

For more health content delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.

Also known as anosmia, loss of smell has been identified as an early indicator of Alzheimer's in previous studies. Data published in Biosensorsin 2018 found that sense of smell worsened as patients progressed from MCI to Alzheimer's disease. As a result, researchers suggested designating "olfactory dysfunction"—that is, disruptions to your sense of smell—as a way to identify those at risk for Alzheimer's disease even before MCI symptoms appear (also known as the preclinical stage). Experts believe anosmia occurs because the olfactory system "has limited self-repair mechanisms," which make it more susceptible to damage from Alzheimer's disease.

What the new data suggests is that this loss is connected to a faster buildup of harmful proteins in the brain, namely amyloid-beta and tau, according to an NIH press release outlining findings. This may explain bakit the loss of smell is an early warning sign for MCI and eventually Alzheimer's disease, as it was "closely tied" to the level and progression of neuropathological damage.

To evaluate the association between olfaction with MCI and protein deposition, researchers studied 364 patients from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, all of whom were cognitively normal at baseline. At the start of the study, patients were given odor identification tests as well as PET scans, which are used to detect the amount of amyloid-beta and tau in the brain.

Sa paglipas ng 2.5 taon, 17 mga kalahok sa pag -aaral (5 porsyento) ang nasuri na may banayad na kapansanan sa nagbibigay -malay. Sa mga pasyente na ito, 11 kaso ay nauugnay sa sakit na Alzheimer, tatlo na may vascular demensya, at ang isa ay may frontotemporal dementia. Ang natitirang dalawa ay "hindi natukoy batay sa mga klinikal na katangian," nakasaad ang press release.

Kapag tinitingnan ang mga pag -scan ng alagang hayop ng mga pasyente, ang mga may mas mababang mga marka ng olfactory ay may mas mataas na antas ng patolohiya ng Alzheimer sa kanilang talino, at ang mga ang pakiramdam ng amoy ay tumanggi sa paglipas ng panahon ay mayroon ding mas mataas na antas ng amyloid at tau sa ilang mga rehiyon na may kaugnayan sa pag -andar ng amoy at memorya. Ang karagdagang pananaliksik, gayunpaman, ay kinakailangan upang mahulaan ang iba pang mga pagbabago sa neurodegenerative na may kaugnayan sa demensya, sinabi ng mga investigator.

Basahin ito sa susunod:Kung hindi mo matandaan ang 4 na bagay na ito, maaaring maging isang maagang pag -sign ng Alzheimer.