Simple memory tests can predict Alzheimer’s 5 to 10 years before onset
Published: June 15, 2005
The researchers employed a complex equation in their analysis, which took into account a participant’s age and education.
“We already know that age and education are good predictors of dementia, meaning that the older you get and the less education you have, the more likely you are to develop dementia,” said Claude Messier, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Ottawa.
Messier, former chair of the research grant panel for the Alzheimer Society of Canada, said the study appears to validate the usefulness of diagnostic tests already being used by doctors.
“In many cases, you’re confronted with a person who has some (cognitive) deficits, but you’re not completely sure exactly how this will progress,” he said Monday from Ottawa.
“I think what the study really helps (to do) is maybe decrease the extent of the grey area of age-related cognitive decline, so that more accurate predictors can be used to initiate treatment when one becomes available.”
While there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, scientists around the world are investigating a wide variety of drugs, vitamins and other interventions in the hope of staving off the disease. Medications now on the market treat some symptoms but do nothing to halt progress of the disease.
Yet, research has shown that onset can be delayed through mental stimulation and physical activity, said Tierney.
“Because there are no drugs right now available, you could say maybe, ‘I want to change my lifestyle, I want to become more mentally alert, I want to interact more with people, become more physically fit.’ ”
The tests could also serve another purpose, by eliminating anxiety about memory lapses that may be just a product of worry, fatigue or stress - not a sign of impending Alzheimer’s, which affects about 280,000 Canadians over 65.
But if testing does send up an alarm, there’s a five-to 10-year window of opportunity to take steps to try to hold off the disease, which is caused by the destruction of brain cells that control memory, reasoning and behaviour.
“These tests are not perfectly accurate,” Tierney said. “But they tell us that this very difficult diagnosis can be made quite a bit in advance.
“So even if we can look at these people and apply treatments - whether those treatments are non-pharmaceutical, mental stimulation and physical exercise - we can now identify people and look at their risk many, many years earlier, quite accurately, and determine where we can alter the course of the disease.”
Messier said that while the study doesn’t point to a definitive test for Alzheimer’s, it does illustrate that medicine is progressing steadily to improve early diagnosis. He cautioned, however, that larger, longer studies are needed to confirm Tierney’s conclusions.
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