Alzheimer's Disease Epidemic

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Early hints

New research published in the journal Neuropsychology suggests that simple neuropsychological tests could be used to detect Alzheimer's before typical symptoms appear. Mark Jacobson, a research psychologist at the Veterans Affairs (VA) San Diego Healthcare System, says cognitive profiling combined with known changes in memory loss can identify people who may be in the early stages of the disease.

For the study, Jacobson and his colleagues at the VA and the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) recruited 20 normal elderly individuals and 20 potential Alzheimer's patients who showed little or no clinical signs of the disease. The 40 veterans participated in two neuropsychological tests, one focusing on their verbal naming ability and another to test visuospatial skills. The groups were split evenly in terms of those who excelled verbally and those with superior spatial skills.

"We found that the elderly patients who later developed Alzheimer's showed an asymmetric pattern, or uneven changes, in their cognitive test results several years before their diagnosis," explains Jacobson, one of the study's authors.

Jacobson's team is also using a special MRI procedure called functional neuroimaging to record changes in brain blood flow in an attempt to learn whether the cognitive performance differences reflect anatomical or functional changes in brain function and structure.

Elsewhere in the country, researchers are studying the association between apolipoprotein E (ApoE), a gene that helps metabolize cholesterol, and the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Studies have shown that healthy middle-aged adults who carry a variation of the gene have difficulties in spatial attention and working memory similar to those clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer's. In a study published in the journal Neuropsychology, researchers from the Catholic University of America and National Institutes of Health theorize that studies of those with the gene variation could lead to better methods for early Alzheimer's detection.