Strong Brain Blog

We’ve collected a number of web pages offering lists of symptoms of the onset of demetia, and have distilled out 18 of the signs. Keep in mind that the occasional and not long lasting appearance of one of these is most likely a sign of aging. However, regular occurrence of one or more of these signs is an indication that a visit to a physician or clinincal psychologist specializing in cognition is warrented.
The web links contributing to this list are collected at the bottom of this post.
Here are the 18 distilled signs:

1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life fairly often — not the occasional forgetting of a name or date that comes back later.
2. Challenges in planning or solving problems, or following recipes or keeping track of monthly bills.
3. Difficulty with numbers and/or handling money in shops.
4. Difficulty making familiar trips (walking or driving).
5. A failing sense of direction and spatial orientation, including wandering and getting lost.
6. Confusion about time or place.
7. Repeating questions after a short interval.
8. Vision problems, including difficulty reading, judging distance and determining color or contrast — not due to cataracts or other eye problems.
9. Problems with words in conversations or writing, including repeating themselves or stopping mid-conversation unable to continue; also failure to find the right word.
10. Difficulty following storylines.
11. Misplacing things (often in very unusal places) and losing the ability to retrace steps to find them.
12. Decreased or poor judgment, including mishandling money, and decreased attention to grooming and keeping clean.
13. Notable weight changes.
14. Withdrawal from work or social activities.
15. Apathy, or loss of spontaneity and sense of initiative.
16. Changes in mood and personality, including becoming confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful or anxious, or aggressive.
17. Lessening of ability to focus and concentrate.
18. Failure to recognize people they know.

Here are links to the web pages contributing:

10 Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s
What are the early signs of dementia?
10 Early Symptoms of Dementia
Dementia – early signs
What Are the Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease?
Symptoms of dementia
Symptoms
Well, that was a weird moment’ and other signs of dementia family members should watch for [Possible paywall]
Dementia’s Signs May Come Early [Possible paywall]

All links have been added to Alzheimer’s > Diagnosis & Tests

The idea of being able to utilize an inexpensive “scratch & sniff” test such as described in Smelling Alzheimer’s & Brain Injury? to obtain early warnings of possible Alzheimer’s onset is certainly intriguing, and work is ongoing. Most recently, a study reported a correlation between development of poor sense of smell and a notably higher incidence of death within 10 years. The mechanism(s) and meaning(s) remain unclear.

Here are two media articles on the work:
Routine sense of smell tests could be used to spot signs of dementia
Poor sense of smell associated with nearly 50 percent higher risk for death in 10 years

Here is the research publication Summary for Patients:
Poor Sense of Smell and Risk for Death in Older Adults

Here are interesting overviews from 2017 and 2018:
Smell Test May Sniff Out Oncoming Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s
Can a Smell Test Sniff Out Alzheimer’s Disease?

Here are media articles on several smell-related research reports from 2017:
Sniffing out dementia with a simple smell test
Alzheimer’s could be diagnosed early with sniff tests
Sniffing out dementia with a simple smell test

All links have been added to Alzheimer’s > Diagnosis & Tests.

Because the retina at the back of the eye is essentially a part of the brain, it is an intriguing target for diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Earlier, we reported on work (The Eyes May Know About Alzheimer’s) developing a scanning machine for determining the amount of plaque present in the retina. Recent work, using 39 people with Alzheimer’s and 133 healthy people, takes the same route through the eyes, but instead examines the density of the microscopic network of blood vessels in the retina. The network in healthy people was notably denser than that in people with Alzheimer’s.

Here are two media articles on the work:
Alzheimer’s and brain health could soon be detected using an eye exam
Could an eye doctor diagnose Alzheimer’s before you have symptoms?

Here is the research report:
Retinal Microvascular and Neurodegenerative Changes in Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment Compared with Control Participants

All links have been added to Alzheimers > Diagnosis & Tests.

Two promising non-invasive tests for predicting possible future dementia have been reported.

The first test used an ultrasound scanner to examine the pulses in the neck arteries of nearly 3200 people in 2002. The study then monitored their cognitive functions until 2016, and found that those people with the most intense pulses and irregular blood flow in the neck arteries were up to 50% more likely to experience cognitive decline, which is a strong sign of oncoming dementia. If the results can be replicated in larger studies, this test could become routine and widespread in doctors’ offices.

Here are links to two media articles on the work, together with a link to the abstract of the study:

Dementia risk: Five-minute scan ‘can predict cognitive decline’
Five-minute neck scan can spot dementia 10 years earlier, say scientists
Meeting-presented abstract:
Abstract 13364: Carotid Artery Wave Intensity Measured in Mid- to Late-Life Predicts Future Cognitive Decline: The Whitehall II Study

The second test can be carried out by an optician during routine annual examinations of patients’ eyes. During such routine annual exams, the optician examines the state of the patient’s retinas. This study showed that the thinness of the retina is correlated with the likelihood of cognitive decline: Healthy patients with the thinnest retinal layers were seen to be twice as likely to later experience cognitive decline. Such thinness of the retinal layer could be routinely checked by opticians.

Below are links to two media articles about the study, together with the study abstract:

Optician’s eye test ‘could spot early dementia signs’
Retinal Thinning Tied to Cognitive Decline
Research abstract:
Association of Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thinning With Current and Future Cognitive Decline

All links have been added to Alzheimer’s > Diagnosis & Tests

The first two bodies of work below use computer-based games to research the decline of 3D navigational skills (one of the first symptoms exhibited by the onset of dementia of all kinds), and the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), respectively. The third study reports on the correlation that “Less Daily Computer Use is Related to Smaller Hippocampal Volumes in Cognitively Intact Elderly”.

☞Sea Hero Quest

Sea Hero Quest is a collaboration between Alzheimer’s Research UK, Deutsche Telekom, the game designers Glitchers and scientists at 7 British universities. Recognizing that one of the first symptoms of dementia is loss of navigational skills, Sea Hero Quest mobile was designed to help researchers to understand the mental processes involved in 3D navigation, while at the same time providing a sea journey quest taken by a son attempting to recover the memories his father has lost to dementia. There are three sections to the game: navigation, shooting flares to test orientation, and chasing creatures. Each section is scientifically valid as well as fun and exciting. The game was launched in 2016 and, according to its website (below), nearly 3 million people have played the game up to now,. This amount of play has generated effectively 80 years worth of data, in turn equivalent to about 12,000 years of typical lab-based dementia research.

Here are three links to media articles about the game:
Sea Hero Quest: the mobile phone game helping fight dementia
Game shows that ability to navigate declines at young age
https://blog.strong-brain.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2135&action=edit
Here is the Wikipedia entry for the game:
Sea Hero Quest [Wikipedia]
And here is the actual game site on the web, where you can download the Mobile and/or VR versions of the game:
Sea Hero Quest [Site]

☞Virtual Super Market (VSM)

The study reported here uses as “Virtual Super Market” Virtual Reality (VR) brain-training-style program to assess mild cognitive impairment on the part of the player. It is of definite interest since the testing game and assessment can be carried out without an administrator. Here is a link to a media article about the work:
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) detected with brain training game

Here are a link to the original study together with an earlier prototype work:
A Preliminary Study on the Feasibility of Using a Virtual Reality Cognitive Training Application for Remote Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment
Can a Virtual Reality Cognitive Training Application Fulfill a Dual Role? Using the Virtual Supermarket Cognitive Training Application as a Screening Tool for Mild Cognitive Impairment

☞Computer Use Time Can Correlate With Cognitive Decline

The study followed 27 ‘cognitively-healthy’, dementia-free adults aged 65 or older over 9 years in Portland. On the one hand, the study used MRI scans to measure the volume of the volunteers’ hippocampus, and on the other hand, data on computer use among participants was collected via mouse movement detection software. Embedded sensor technology monitored their mobility, sleep, socialisation, digital activities and medication intake. The research results showed that an additional hour of computer use each day was linked to a 0.025% larger hippocampal volume, leading to the conclusion that lower computer usage could be used to predict cognitive decline.

Here is a link to a media article about the study:
Computer use could help predict early-stage Alzheimer’s

Here is the original research study:
Less Daily Computer Use is Related to Smaller Hippocampal Volumes in Cognitively Intact Elderly

Here is the Wikipedia entry for Hippocampus:
Hippocampus [Wikipedia]

All the links have been added to Diagnosis & Tests.