New method that predicts risk of cognitive decline
The early prognosis of high-risk older adults for amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), using non-invasive and sensitive neuro markers, is key for early prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, suggested the findings of a new study.
The study by researchers at the University of Kentucky establishes what they believe is a new way to predict the risk years before a clinical diagnosis. Their work shows that direct measures of brain signatures during mental activity are more sensitive and accurate predictors of memory decline than current standard behavioural testing.
“Many studies have measured electrophysiological rhythms during resting and sleep to predict Alzheimer’s risk. This study demonstrates that better predictions of a person’s cognitive risk can be made when the brain is challenged with a task. Additionally, we learned that out of thousands of possible brain oscillation measures, left-frontal brainwaves during so-called working memory tasks are good predictors for dementia risk,” explained lead investigator Yang Jiang, associate professor of behavioural sciences and an affiliated faculty member at the SandersBrown Center on Aging.
When looking for a specific car in a large parking lot, older persons increasingly make more mistakes and take more time than young people due to brain and cognitive ageing. Jiang said it has already been reported that brain waves associated with that type of daily memory task differ in cognitively normal older people and those of patients with memory loss and dementia.
For this new study, researchers followed healthy older adults for 10 years. They reported that a specific pattern of frontal brainwaves during an everyday memory task predicts a person’s risk of cognitive impairment roughly five years before clinical diagnosis. This pattern was not observed in older people who remained cognitively normal over the next 10 years.
Jiang said predicting and preventing cognitive decline is very important to allow preventive measures, such as lifestyle changes, and for researchers to help achieve a greater quality of life for the rapidly growing ageing population.