Over the past several years, there gave been many pieces of research on Alzheimer’s disease, offering incredible answers and discoveries.
Many of them focused on potential treatments, while others suggested potential causes for the neurodegenerative condition.
Alzheimer’s disease is responsible for 60 to 70% cases of dementia. People who are diagnosed with this chronic neurodegenerative disease have an average life expectancy of three to nine years.
Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease Before Symptoms
According to a new study, there might be certain bio-makers that can hint early apparition of Alzheimer’s disease, making it possible for doctors to put a diagnose before the apparition of any symptoms.
The researchers actually say that this condition might begin far earlier in life than the actual symptoms appear. This means that even though the symptoms for Alzheimer’a disease are normally expected to appear in the elderly years, the disease probably begins taking root when people are in their 20s or 30s.
The extensive study was carried out on July 6 at Washington University School of Medicine and has revealed amazing facts about the biomarkers of those who are a victim of Alzheimer’s disease.
A Chance to Find Out How to Stop Dementia
According to the results of the research, it might be possible to tell if a certain Alzheimer’s patient could develop dementia later in life by noticing the changes which biomarkers undergo during midlife.
However, at this moment, it is too early to use the biomarkers to make a definitive prediction regarding the development of the Alzheimer’s disease from an early age, but this is the goal of the researchers.
The Beginning of a Breakthrough
The survey has been recently published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia. It was conducted by Shannon L. Risacher, Ph.D., and Andrew J. Saykin, Psy.D, who have reviewed data of approximately 600 ADNI candidates.
The study focused on people with “significant memory concerns”, representing older adults who complained about having memory loss in recent months or years. However, when they were given cognition and memory tests, the people were considered to be in normal ranges.
The researchers strongly believe that these preliminary conclusions have a great importance for further research, and that this is just the beginning for bringing patients who are at a high risk of Alzheimer’s disease a breakthrough in the field.
