Eyes Could Predict Dementia 12 Years Before Diagnosis, Study Finds

Our eyes can provide us with valuable information related to brain health. Researchers have found that eye problems can be early signs of cognitive decline and could predict dementia years before it is officially diagnosed. With 12, more precisely.

In a recent study, presented in Scientific Reports, scientists from Loughborough University in the UK studied and analyzed a group of 8,623 healthy people in Norfolk, England, over a long period of time. Of the subjects, 537 eventually developed dementia, which allowed the researchers to look at factors that may have preceded the condition.

At the beginning of the study, the participants were given a visual sensitivity test, which asked them to recognize, as soon as they saw it, a triangle created by moving dots on the screen.

Those who developed or already had depression showed slower reaction times in shape recognition compared to others, they write Science Alert.

After the study, which also included other tests, British scientists concluded that vision problems could be a precursor to cognitive decline, as amyloid plaques linked to Alzheimer’s disease could affect on brain regions related to vision before spreading to areas related to memory like the disease. going on

In Alzheimer’s disease, several aspects of visual processing, such as contrast sensitivity and color discrimination, are affected. In particular the colors in the blue-green spectrum are difficult for those affected by depression to see, even in the early stages, often without these people’s clue.

Another problem faced by those with or near dementia is the inability to ignore distracting stimuli. So it is the reason for many of the accidents that old people do.

Furthermore, people with or about to be diagnosed with dementia, even years later, do not “scan” faces like healthy ones – eyes, nose, mouth – to print a face – hit their memory. Hence their subsequent problem of recognition.