2024-10-30 05:00:00
Memory loss is a well-known symptom of dementia. Forgetting a relative’s name or a recent event is frequently seen among people living with the condition, but there are other behaviors that can also indicate brain decline.
Studies show that changes in speaking and walking speed and worsening sense of direction may also be early signs of dementia and deserve medical investigation.
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Dementia is characterized by cognitive decline and/or behavioral changes (neuropsychiatric) important enough to interfere with the patient’s activities of daily living and independence, being more common in the elderly.
Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia are the main forms of dementia in the elderly, corresponding to around 80% to 90% of cases, according to the Ministry of Health. However, there are other forms, such as Lewy bodies and frontotemporal.
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Alzheimer’s is a degenerative disease caused by the death of brain cells and which can appear decades before the first symptoms appear.
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As it is a disease that tends to worsen over the years, early diagnosis is essential to delay its progression. Therefore, when presenting any symptoms of the disease, it is essential to consult a specialist.
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Although the symptoms are more common in people over the age of 70, it is not uncommon for them to appear in young people around 30. In fact, when this “premature” manifestation occurs, the condition becomes known as early-onset Alzheimer’s.
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In the initial phase, a person with Alzheimer’s tends to have changes in memory and starts to forget simple things, such as: where they kept their keys, what they ate for breakfast, someone’s name or even the season of the year.
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Disorientation, difficulty remembering the address where you live or the route home, difficulties in making simple decisions, such as planning what you are going to do or eat, for example, are also signs of the disease.
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Additionally, loss of desire to perform routine tasks, changes in behavior (making the person more nervous or aggressive), and repetitions are some of the most common symptoms.
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According to research carried out by the Alzheimer’s Drugs Discovery Foundation (ADDF), the presence of damaged proteins (Amyloid and Tau), vascular diseases, neuroinflammation, neural and genetic energy failure (APOE) may be related to the onset of the disease.
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Alzheimer’s treatment involves the use of medications to reduce the symptoms of the disease, in addition to the need for physiotherapy and cognitive stimulation. The disease has no cure and care must be taken until the end of life
Towfiqu Barbhuiya / EyeEm/ Getty Images Early symptoms of dementia
Speech speed
A study carried out at the University of Toronto, Canada, showed that a decrease in the rate of speech can be an early and important indicator of brain health in adults.
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In the research, 125 healthy adults, aged between 18 and 90, underwent tests to assess their ability to recognize images, name them and describe them.
The researchers found that the ability to find words to communicate naturally worsened with age, but this problem did not indicate cognitive decline related to dementia. On the other hand, slow speech has been linked to weaker brain function, a crucial indicator of brain health.
Walk
Changes in a person’s pace when walking can also be an early indicator of dementia, as shown by research published in the scientific journal Jama Networkem 2022.
As cognitive capacity decreases, thinking becomes slower and patients take longer to think about where they are going and what they should do to get around objects – in addition, the execution of movements itself becomes slower.
“Our findings provide further evidence for the importance of adding serial measurements of gait speed to dementia risk screening assessments, providing the opportunity for more comprehensive assessment and early preventative treatments,” noted the researchers from Australia’s Monash University.
Worsening sense of direction
Worsening sense of direction is another very common sign of Alzheimer’s. A study carried out at University College London showed that people with the disease “overestimated curves” and had worse performance when trying to retrace steps during tests with virtual reality glasses.
The authors of the research believe that this is not only due to the worsening of patients’ memory, but also because they lose their perception of the world around them. The study evaluated the navigation skills of 110 people of different ages and 14 of them were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
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