Apathy could be early sign of dementia, new research suggests
Apathy can be an early symptom of dementia, research has suggested.
A Cambridge University-led study indicated that apathy - defined as a lack of interest or motivation - can begin decades before other symptoms and be a sign of problems to come.
T h e s t u d y ' s j o i n t s e n i o r a u t h o r, P r o f e s s o r J a m e s Rowe, of Cambridge's Department of Clinical Neurosciences, said that diagnosing the disease earlier would give a greater "window of opportunity" to try to treat it.
The study, published in Alzh e i me r ' s & D e me n t i a : T h e Jo u r n a l o f t h e Al z h e i mer ' s A s s o c i a t i o n , i nvo l ve d 3 0 4 healthy p eople who carr y a faulty gene that causes frontotemporal dementia, and 296 of their relatives who have normal genes.
Frontotemporal dementia is a significant cause of dementia
among younger people and is often diagnosed between the ages of 45 and 65.
It can be genetic and about a third of patients have a family history of the condition.
Brain scanning studies have indicated that in people with frontotemporal dementia it is caused by shrinkage in parts at the front of the brain - and the more severe the shrinkage, the worse the apathy.
Participants in the new study we r e f o l l owe d ove r s e ve r a l years.
No n e h a d d e m e n t i a , a n d most people in the study did not know whether they carr y a fault y gene or not. The researchers looked for changes in apathy, memory tests and MRI scans of the brain.
The study's first author, Maura Malpetti, of Cambridge University, said: "Apathy is one of the most common symptoms in patients with frontotemporal dementia.
"I t i s l i n k e d t o f u n c t i o n a l decline, decreased quality of life, loss of independence and poorer survival.
"The more we discover about the earliest effects of fronto - t e m p o r a l d e m e n t i a , w h e n people still feel well in themselves, the better we can treat symptoms and delay or even prevent the dementia.
"B y s t u dy i n g p e o p l e o ve r time, rather than just taking a snapshot, we revealed how even subtle changes in apathy predicted a change in cognition, but not the other way around.
"We a l s o s aw l o c a l b r a i n s h r i n k a g e i n a r e a s . ”