How drawings can help spot dementia early

DRAWINgS of a human figure could be a new way to diagnose patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Drawing an object relies on people remembering what it looks like. This uses a skill known as executive function, which deteriorates in Alzheimer’s patients.

Italian researchers told a group of around 300 people — who either had Alzheimer’s, mild cognitive impairment ( a precursor to dementia), or were healthy — to draw a human figure on A4 paper and then compared the pictures.

The researchers found that the drawings by Alzheimer’s patients were smaller, less detailed (for example, had no nose, arms or legs) and had a high head-to-body ratio, compared to healthy controls.

Writing in the journal Neurological Sciences, they said that this drawing is a useful screening tool.