People with thin retinas worse at memory trials
BY MARTIN BAGOT THE thickness of the retina can predict a decline in brain power, eye test results prove.
Scientists found that people with thin retinas were twice as likely to perform poorly in subtle tests on everyday memory, reaction time and reasoning.
When tested again three years later, these people were also twice as likely to have suffered mental decline.
Separate research building on the breakthrough findings shows the changes can be tracked to predict full-blown dementia nearly a decade later.
Experts hope drugs or lifestyle changes, such as quitting booze and smoking, could slow or halt the onset of the disease in those identified as at risk.
Professor Paul Foster, lead study author, said: “We now know we need to find people at the earliest stages, before the brain is irreparably damaged.
“The hope is that either a drug or lifestyle advice can stop this.
“The combination of the two studies showing the increased risk does put it beyond doubt. There is unquestionably a link between changes in the retina and changes in people’s mental state.”
Researchers at University College London and Moorfields Eye Hospital used UK Biobank data on OCT scans, which measure the thickness of a layer of neurons on the retina.
The study looked at 32,000 apparently healthy people aged 40 to 69 who had undergone the eye test.
The second paper – published by the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam – followed 5000 people with an average age of 69. Over eight years, 86 developed dementia. Those with a thin retina were 44 per cent more likely to do so.
The UCL team are working out the precise thickness of retina that indicates risk is high enough for patients to be given a diagnosis of pre-dementia.
Prof Foster added: “We need to find a threshold within the measures we have to indicate a very high probability of dementia before we can identify people who need to modify their lifestyle or take drugs.”