With the help of artificial intelligence, researchers have found early signs that can predict Alzheimer’s disease seven years before the onset of the disease.
Researchers have discovered early risk factors that can predict Alzheimer’s disease, reports Medical News Today.
Researchers at the University of California used artificial intelligence to help identify several early risk factors. They predicted the onset of Alzheimer’s disease up to seven years before symptoms appeared.
Some of the risk factors concerned both men and women. These included high blood pressure, high cholesterol and vitamin D deficiency.
In addition, osteoporosis predicts the disease in women, and erectile dysfunction and prostate enlargement in men.
According to the researchers, the findings confirm previous research findings.
– These are risks that we see at the population level, but for the individual, the model also takes into account the combination of diseases, points out the person who led the research Alice S. Tang.
For the study, the research team used artificial intelligence to search a database of more than 5 million people for diseases in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
With the help of artificial intelligence, researchers identified several early risk factors in both men and women years earlier.
Based on this information, the researchers found that they were able to identify with 72 percent accuracy those people who developed Alzheimer’s disease.
The first and most significant symptom of Alzheimer’s disease is memory loss. The first symptoms are mild and resemble normal distraction. Adobe stock/AOP
Lifestyles have an effect
According to the researchers, identifying early signs is important in order to influence risk factors and develop preventive treatments before irreversible changes occur in the brain.
Previous studies have identified some early risk factors for Alzheimer’s. The prevalence of the disease increases strongly with age. Consanguinity increases the risk of the disease, but in most cases, Alzheimer’s disease is not hereditary. Some very rare gene mutations are also known.
Many lifestyle factors also increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Previous studies have found that middle-aged high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol increase the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease, as do being overweight and lacking exercise.
According to the research group, the results provide further confirmation that doctors should encourage patients to, among other things, get their cholesterol levels under control, exercise and take care of their calcium and vitamin D intake.
The neurologist who commented on the research to the Medical News website David Merrillin according to the research confirms that the aging of the brain can be affected.
– We can’t control everything, but we can influence, for example, the saturated fats in our diet, which in turn can influence cholesterol levels.
Cardiovascular disease is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Adobe stock/AOP
Even 30 years earlier
Alzheimer’s disease begins to form long before the first symptoms begin to appear. Previous studies have suggested that Alzheimer’s disease begins to appear in the brain more than 30 years before symptoms begin.
The cause of Alzheimer’s disease is unknown. In the disease, a protein, amyloid, begins to accumulate in the brain, which damages nerve pathways and brain cells.
According to researchers, about 69 million people worldwide have mild signs of cognitive decline that are indicative of Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition, according to them, 315 million people have brain changes that predict the disease is coming.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common dementia disease in Finland. About 70,000 Finns are currently suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Aging.
Also used as a source: Terveyskirjasto.fi, Iltalehti archive
The root cause of Alzheimer’s disease is unknown, and the disease cannot be cured. Adobe stock/AOP
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