Symptoms of dementia can be seen 10 years before the disease

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Signs of dementia can be noticeable to specialists 10 years before a fatal diagnosis is made. This conclusion was made by scientists from the University of Cambridge.

Possible symptoms of dementia can be considered long before a neurologist diagnoses senile dementia by establishing one of the forms of this disease. Most often, patients are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

And scientists from Cambridge have found that if people did poorly on memory tasks and tests 10 years before diagnosis, they were most likely to later develop the full-blown disease.

Experts believe that this discovery could lead to the introduction of routine examinations of those at greatest risk of dementia. In this case, early therapy or inclusion of patients in clinical trials of promising drugs can effectively help. This conclusion is based on the analysis of data from half a million residents of the UK aged 40 to 69.

In addition to collecting information about their health and various diseases, all participants also underwent a series of tests, including those that assessed their ability to solve problems, memory, reaction time and grip strength. Information was collected on weight changes and the number of falls, and then compared with information collected 10 years later, specifically identifying victims of dementia.