Brain Scans After Memory Shifts May Show Alzheimer's Risk

Older people at high risk of Alzheimer's disease who reported significant memory problems during the past year were more likely to have early signs of the disease in their brains, compared to people who didn't report major memory changes, according to a new study.

The significant memory changes had also been noticed by the people's spouses, close friends, or relatives. The new findings point to the importance of asking people and their loved ones about changes in memory function to gauge Alzheimer's risk, the researchers suggested.

The study results were published Wednesday in the journal Neurology. The study included 675 people with an average age of 72 years old, who didn't have problems with their thinking skills at the start of the study but were considered at risk of Alzheimer's disease. They were all enrolled in other studies that are following people long-term to learn more about how the disease begins.

The 675 people in the study answered questions about their mental skills and also had PET scans of their brains. For each one of them, a "study partner" also answered questions about the person's mental skills. A study partner could be a spouse, relative, or friend, and 65% of study partners lived with the people being studied.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive condition linked to the death of brain cells over time. For this study, researchers looked for two types of protein buildup in the brain linked to Alzheimer's disease One protein buildup type is called amyloid plaque, and the other is called tau tangles. Some people in the study were already known to have higher amyloid plaque levels, based on their participation in other research. 

Just having the presence of the protein buildup is not cause for an Alzheimer's disease diagnosis, and not all people who have the brain changes eventually get the disease.

Source: MEDspace