Risk Factors For Alzheimer's Disease

Risk Factors For Alzheimer's Disease.
Older adults with homage problems and a narration of concussion have more buildup of Alzheimer's disease-associated plaques in the brain than those who also had concussions but don't have respect problems, according to a new study. "What we think it suggests is, head trauma is associated with Alzheimer's-type dementia - it's a endanger factor," said study researcher Michelle Mielke, an friend professor of epidemiology and neurology at Mayo Clinic Rochester. But it doesn't degenerate someone with head trauma is automatically going to develop Alzheimer's. Her turn over is published online Dec 26, 2013 and in the Jan 7, 2014 print version of the journal Neurology.

Previous studies looking at whether head trauma is a risk factor for Alzheimer's have come up with conflicting results. And Mielke stressed that she has found only a relate or association, not a cause-and-effect relationship. In the study, Mielke and her band evaluated 448 residents of Olmsted County, Minn, who had no signs of tribute problems.

They also evaluated another 141 residents with memory and thinking problems known as mild cognitive impairment. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Plaques are deposits of a protein scrap known as beta-amyloid that can erect up in between the brain's nerve cells. While most folk develop some with age, those who develop Alzheimer's generally get many more, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

They also minister to to get them in a predictable pattern, starting in brain areas crucial for memory. In the Mayo study, all participants were venerable 70 or older. The participants reported if they ever had a brain injury that implicated loss of consciousness or memory. Of the 448 without any memory problems, 17 percent had reported a cognition injury. Of the 141 with memory problems, 18 percent did.

This suggests that the element between head trauma and the plaques is complex as the proportion of people reporting concussion was the same in both groups. Brain scans were done on all the participants. Those who had both concussion biography and cognitive mental impairment had levels of amyloid plaques that were 18 percent higher than those with cognitive lessening but no head trauma history, the investigators found.

Among those with modest cognitive impairment, those with concussion histories had a nearly five times higher hazard of elevated plaque levels than those without a history of concussion. The researchers don't recall why some with concussion history develop memory problems and others do not. The research was funded by the US National Institutes of Health, to each several other supporters.

The study adds valuable bumf for experts in the field, said Dr Robert Glatter, director of sports medicine and wounding brain injury in the department of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City. Glatter, who is also a c whilom sideline physician for the National Football League's New York Jets, reviewed the young study findings. Other studies often rely on postmortem information.

In the Mayo study, participants had to have ruin of consciousness as a measure of having a concussion history. However the revitalized thinking is that loss of consciousness is not necessary to define a concussion - one can occur without that. The outcome of head injury may be cumulative over time in the development of Alzheimer's.

In the past, experts meditation only severe head trauma was linked with Alzheimer's, but less severe injury may actually be to the point as well. Some other factor or factors yet to be discovered may be at play. Both Mielke and Glatter stressed that concussions don't automatically create to Alzheimer's. "Not all people with head trauma flower Alzheimer's more helpful hints. If you do hit your head, it doesn't mean you are going to develop Alzheimer's," Mielke said, although "it may enlargement your risk".