A recent study has revealed that anxiety in older adults could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s.
According to the research, carried out by scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, when proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease increase in people’s brains, they are likely to become more anxious.
Though this is not the first study to focus on the link between mental health issues and the degenerative disease, the new research centred on anxiety as the most closely linked symptom.
The researchers, who reached their results by analysing 300 older adults, believe with further research anxiety could become an early warning sign and helpful in monitoring patients for early treatment of Alzheimer’s.
The exact cause of the disease is still not known, though it is believed clumps, or plaques, of proteins, called beta-amyloids, stick to neurons and interrupt signals in the brain. This then affects memory and cognitive functions.
This build-up of proteins occurs long before the classic symptom of Alzheimer’s materialises – having trouble remembering information.
During the new study, which was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, self-reports on 30 symptoms of depression and anxiety were compared to brain scan images. It was observed that with more of the clusters of the protein plaques, anxiety increased.
“This suggests that anxiety symptoms could be a manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease prior to the onset of cognitive impairment,” first author Dr Nancy Donovan, a geriatric psychiatrist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Mail Online.
“If further research substantiates anxiety as an early indicator, it would be important for not only identifying people early on with the disease, but also, treating it and potentially slowing or preventing the disease process early on.”
