Scientists have found that certain symptoms can predict the onset of dementia more than a decade before formal diagnosis
Some researchers from the University of Oxford and other institutes have been able to reduce a list of nearly 30 symptoms and factors that potentially put people at greater risk of dementia in a series of 11 that appear to have the greatest impact.
The latter have examined data from nearly 225,000 UK residents with an average age of 60, following them for 14 years. During that time, approximately 2% were diagnosed with a degenerative cognitive condition, experienced by approximately 55 million people worldwide. Below, let’s find out what the study revealed.
Will you develop dementia? All the symptoms and factors that predict it
Dementia is not a single condition: rather, it is a collection of symptoms that fit a variety of disorders caused by abnormal changes in the brain, resulting from disease or injury. Contrary to popular belief, Dementia is not a normal part of aging. The new screening tool developed based on the results it’s called the UK Biobank Dementia Risk Score, or UKBDRS and appears to be effective in identifying early symptoms of dementia.
Dr Raihaan Patel, professor of psychiatry at Oxford University and lead author of the study, hopes it can eventually be used by primary care providers to easily detect the condition in people aged 50 to 73.
Among the risk factors you need to consider:
- Age (typically 65 years and older)
- Lack of education
- History of diabetes
- History of/current depression
- History of stroke
- Parental dementia
- Economic disadvantage
- Hypertension
- High cholesterol
- Live alone
- Being male
When compared to other existing screening tools, UKBDRS, combined with knowledge of whether individuals carried the APOE e4 gene variant, placing them at higher risk of dementia, provided the most accurate results. The new screening can serve as a starting point for the conversation, Patel says, giving providers the opportunity to encourage patients with diabetes, depression, high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol to make lifestyle changes which could reduce the risk of developing the condition.
The first signs and symptoms, according to the international health organization, they include:
- Forgetting recent things or events
- Losing or misplacing things
- Getting lost while walking or driving
- Being confused, even in familiar places
- Lose track of time
- Difficulty solving problems or making decisions
- Problems following conversations or difficulty finding words
- Difficulty carrying out usual activities
- Visually incorrectly judge the distances of objects
Often, according to the WHO, the first sign of dementia is a change in mood or behavior. Symptoms typically worsen with time, leading to the need for assistance with daily living.
