They drew up the list of red flags after tracking 282 people with cognitive impairment – often the early stage of dementia.
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The study involved almost 3,000 healthy older people who were randomly assigned to take a five week classroom-based training that involved either improving their processing speed, improving their memory skills, or improving their reasoning skills, and followed over 10 years.
The findings were presented at the annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, held from July 22 to 28 in Toronto. And previous studies have found that people with mild cognitive impairment are at greater risk of decline if they also suffer more subtle behavioral symptoms.
Dr Rosa Sancho of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “This research suggests a potentially simple and cost-effective way to identify those at risk of memory decline, but while an odour detection test could bolster current diagnostic approaches like brain scanning and pen and paper tests, this test is not yet able to reliably predict who will develop dementia in future”.
The idea is a controversial one because of the proliferation of computer-based “brain games” whose claimed effectiveness against cognitive decline is generally not supported by the scientific literature. Some received four additional “booster” sessions one year after the original training, and four more two years after that.
“We believe this is the first time a cognitive training intervention has been shown to protect against cognitive impairment or dementia in a large, randomized, controlled trial”, lead author Jerri Edwards, an associate professor at the University of South Florida, said in the news release.
A group of neuropsychiatrists and Alzheimer’s experts suggest suggests that sharp changes in the mood and behavior of an individual could indicate a very early stage of dementia.
“For the majority of brain fitness products sold today the marketing hype has exceeded the science”, says Murali Doraiswamy, director of the neurocognitive disorders program at Duke University Health System in Durham, N.C. “The Active results will definitely provide a big credibility boost to the field”, Dr. Doraiswamy says.
The exercise used in the study was developed by researchers but acquired by Posit Science, of San Francisco, in 2007.
Toronto researchers found that socially active people with higher education, plus mentally stimulating work, were protected from age-related brain decline, even if they ate a bad diet that increased their risk for dementia.
It’s estimated, Ismail said, that of older adults with mild cognitive impairment, about 13 percent progress to dementia per year. The dementia risk grows as people age, and the difference in the game group from a control group became much sharper. These also include the so-called “brain games”.
With such training, he said, “it means you have substantially higher levels of stimulation, and you’re going to be more engaged”.
As part of the study, roughly 700 healthy participants, averaging 74 years of age when the experiment began, received 10 hours of training on a computer task.
“It’s important for us to recognize that not everything’s forgetfulness”, said Dr. Ron Petersen, the Mayo Clinic’s Alzheimer’s research chief.
“Increasingly, research is showing us that there are things we can do throughout our lives to reduce the likelihood of developing dementia”. Every six months, the researchers performed physical and neurological exams.
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“It is having an impact on these daily functions”, she said. “I’m generally a skeptic, but it’s making me more of a believer than I would normally be”.
