Alzheimer's Detected Better by Family, Friends

Alzheimer's is better detected by family and friends than tests and other traditional methods, claims a new study.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis validated Ascertain Dementia 8 by checking to see if it could highlight individuals who had biological indicators, or biomarkers, for Alzheimer's disease, such as abnormal levels of certain factors in the spinal fluid or positive brain scans for Alzheimer's plaques.

Alzheimer’s disease - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Stages, Types, Prevention, Prognosis & Treatment
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting memory and thinking and making the person increasingly dependent on others.

"The AD8 gives us a brief and very low-cost alternative that takes a few minutes of the informant's time to screen for dementia and thus identify those individuals who need follow-up evaluations to determine if there truly are signs of Alzheimer's," said John C. Morris.

Traditional early-stage dementia screening tools only give a snapshot of a person's cognitive abilities at one point in time - when they're being tested.

In the current study, informants are asked to rate the following areas:

Caring for Alzheimers disease patients
Alzheimer's disease is a complex brain disorder that triggers the most common form of dementia. The slide show will show how patients need support and care as dementia progresses.

Reduced interest in hobbies and other activities

Repeating of questions, stories or statements

Diseases Related to Old Age
Ageing is referred to the accumulation of changes that brings a person closer to death.

Forgetting the month or year

Difficulty handling complicated financial affairs, such as balancing a chequebook

Biomarkers in Spinal-Fluid May Help Predict Alzheimer's Accurately
Alzheimer's disease can be predicted with up to 100 percent accuracy several years before its onset using biomarkers found in spinal fluids, a study published Monday showed.

Difficulty remembering appointments

"These informants can give us the retrospective perspective we need to know that a person's mental abilities have begun to meaningfully decline, indicating that additional testing is needed," Morris said.

"Based on our results, the AD8 appears to be superior to conventional testing in its ability to detect signs of early dementia. It can't tell us whether the dementia is caused by Alzheimer's or other disorders, but it lets us know when there's a need for more extensive evaluations to answer that question," Morris said.

The study is published online in the journal Brain.

Source-ANI