New studies, new clues

While researchers haven’t yet found a way to prevent or cure dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, they’re making progress on how to catch it early. The findings from three new studies, two from the University of Wisconsin and one from Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, are important for better understanding cognitive declines that steal life from the living and strain the health care system.

One of the new studies found a correlation between hearing loss and mild cognitive decline. Hearing loss is easy to measure and could be a readily observable early-warning sign of dementia.

The second University of Wisconsin study found a correlation between diminished oral fluency and cognitive decline.

As with hearing decline, these are changes that might easily be measured and used as a red flag, perhaps in the general practitioner’s office, where screening for dementia should become as common as it is for depression and other chronic diseases.

The National Academies said they were unable to provide definitive advice on how to prevent Alzheimer’s, the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S., because research studies hadn’t provided enough clues. Their report said the best steps now are for people to be active, keep stimulating their brains and ride herd on their blood pressure— measures long considered important for general physical and brain health.

The academy also called for more research into dementia, including studies that focus on different social groups, such as young adults, with an eye toward early detection.