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Study says signs of dementia can be detected at least nine years prior to official diagnosis

According to a Cambridge University study that was published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, dementia symptoms can be recognised up to nine years before the patient receives a formal diagnosis.

The study concluded that these findings have implications for future at-risk patients who might benefit from early intervention to prevent acquiring dementia-related disorders and who could be screened in advance.

The researchers examined information from the UK Biobank, a database and research tool that comprises the anonymized genetic, lifestyle, and health data from 500,000 UK individuals aged 40 to 69.

The study discovered certain deficits on a variety of tests, including pair matching, prospective memory, recalling lists of numbers, problem-solving activities, and response times, which were present years before the patient received a formal diagnosis.

According to the study, people who performed poorly on these tests also went on to acquire frontotemporal dementia, a rare form of dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.  It also indicated that these people were also more likely than healthy adults to have had a fall in the past 12 months.

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