Alzheimer’s doesn’t just strike randomly. There are four distinct early warning signs that suggest if you are more likely to suffer from the disease one day.
The good news is that identifying one or more of these signs early enough could reduce your chances of developing the disease.
Researchers from University of California at Los Angeles Health Sciences (UCLA) analysed data from health records of around 25,000 people and compared their findings with a specific database of more than 6,000 Alzheimer’s sufferers.
They discovered there are four risk factors—or pathways—that can determine the chances of someone developing Alzheimer’s.
The four pathways are: Mental health pathway: Psychiatric conditions leading to cognitive decline; Encephalopathy pathway: Brain dysfunction conditions that escalate over time; Mild cognitive impairment pathway: Gradual cognitive decline progression, and Vascular disease pathway: Cardiovascular conditions that contribute to dementia risk.
In 26 percent of cases, the pathways followed a sequential progress, so, for example, hypertension often preceded depressive episodes, which then increased Alzheimer’s risk.
Seeing Alzheimer’s as the endpoint of a progressive pathway—rather than diagnosing it in isolation—could open the door to preventative action where an early reversal of a pathway’s sequence could also reduce the risk. “Understanding these pathways could fundamentally change how we approach early detection and prevention,” said Mingzhou Fu, one of the researchers.
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