Alzheimer’s is a serious brain disease, marked by a slow mental decline, which can develop unnoticed for decades before the onset of the first symptoms. However, hidden signs of the condition could be seen in advance, experts say.
New research suggests that thinning a person’s retina at middle age is a factor closely related to cognitive performance.
Although much more research is needed at this time to determine the veracity of the current findings, the team behind a new study says the findings could one day pave the way for a simple eye test that could help predict a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia.
“Given that we have failed to treat Alzheimer’s disease and that the overall prevalence of the disease is rising, this study would help the medical world,” said Ashleigh Barrett-Young of the University of Otago in New Zealand.
People with Alzheimer’s often live with visual impairments that could lead to mental confusion, disorientation, and social withdrawal, all of which are symptoms that, along with memory loss, disrupt daily life.
A test by scientists has shown the link between details in the human eye and Alzheimer’s disease
A team of researchers selected a group of 865 adults who underwent eye scans at the age of 45 for analysis. The thickness of two different parts of the retina was measured for this test.
The analysis showed that participants in the study with thinner retinal layers scored lower on tests of cognitive performance, both as adults and as children.
However, no association was found between retinal thinning and a general decrease in cognitive performance between childhood and adulthood, which could indicate what happens in brain.
Because routine eye tests are less expensive than brain imaging scans that are commonly used to investigate brain health, it would be a cost-effective alternative to monitoring changes in brain health.
“It simply came to our notice then artificial intelligence to perform a CT scan performed by an optometrist to combine it with other data to determine the likely risk of developing Alzheimer’s, ”said one of the researchers, part of this study. medical.
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