Alzheimer's disease symptoms more subtle in people over 80

September, 2011

A new study shows that, among the very old, it’s harder to distinguish between normal brain atrophy and cognitive impairment and that indicative of Alzheimer’s.

A study involving 105 people with Alzheimer's disease and 125 healthy older adults has compared cognitive function and brain shrinkage in those aged 60-75 and those aged 80+.

It was found that the association between brain atrophy and cognitive impairment typically found in those with Alzheimer’s disease was less evident in the older group. This is partly because of the level of brain atrophy in healthy controls in that age group — there was less difference between the healthy controls and those with Alzheimer’s. Additionally, when compared to their healthy counterparts, executive function, immediate memory and attention/processing speed were less abnormal in the older group than they were in the younger group.

The finding suggests that mild Alzheimer’s in the very old may go undetected, and emphasize the importance of taking age into account when interpreting test performance and brain measures.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/aaon-sad080211.php

Reference:

[2503] Stricker, N. H., Chang Y. - L., Fennema-Notestine C., Delano-Wood L., Salmon D. P., Bondi M. W., et al.
(2011). Distinct profiles of brain and cognitive changes in the very old with Alzheimer disease.
Neurology. 77(8), 713 - 721.

seniors

Alzheimers

Related News

Dementia rate in extreme elderly population

Data from 330 participants in The 90+ Study, of whom 70% were women, has revealed an overall annual incidence rate of 18.2% for dementia, rising from 12.7% per year in the 90-94 age group, to 21.2% in the 95-99 age group and 40.7% per year in the 100+ age group.

Stress raises risk of mental decline in older diabetics

A study involving over 1000 older men and women (60-75) with type-2 diabetes has found that those with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood are more likely to have experienced cognitive decline.

Mediterranean diet may lower risk of brain damage

Following on from studies showing that a Mediterranean-like diet may be associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and may lengthen survival in people with Alzheimer's, a six-year study of 712 New Yorkers has revealed that those who were most closely following a Mediterranean-like diet

New test to diagnose early stage Alzheimer's disease

A new test has been developed that measures amyloid-beta oligomers in the cerebrospinal fluid, promising a reliable means of early diagnosis.

New Alzheimer's test offers better opportunities for early detection

A computerized self test (CST) has been developed that is 96% accurate in diagnosing Alzheimer’s and

Major depression more than doubles risk of dementia among adults with diabetes

Both diabetes and clinical depression are known to be risk factors for dementia. Now a study that tracked nearly 4000 diabetics over 5 years has found having both increased the risk 2.7-fold.

Mother’s Alzheimer’s greater risk factor than father’s

A brain scanning study using Pittsburgh Compound B, involving 42 heal

Having greater purpose in life associated with reduced Alzheimer's risk

Data from over 900 community-dwelling older adults participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project has found that greater purpose in life was associated with a substantially reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, as well as a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment and a slower rat

Factors predicting conversion of mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s identified

An analysis technique using artificial neural networks has revealed that the most important factors for predicting whether amnestic mild cognitive impairment (

Untreated vision problems linked to dementia in the elderly

Data from 625 elderly Americans, followed for an average of 8.5 years, has revealed that those with very good or excellent vision at the beginning of the study had a 63% reduced risk of dementia over the study period.

Pages