When it comes to drugs that are developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease, it is believed that they work in full force only if dementia are prescribed before the onset of. This indicates how vital it is to determine in advance whether one or another person belongs to the risk group. Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have proposed a new technique that allows you to diagnose the disease before it manifested itself. In it, the main role relates to the nose, or rather the sense of smell.
The studies conducted earlier showed that in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the sense of smell is reduced, in this regard, the team led by Dr. David R. Roalf decided to apply this information to diagnose a group of 728 elderly people. All participants were evaluated in advance using the array of neurological methods and divided into three groups: healthy, have moderate cognitive disorders (MCI) and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Each subject was given 16 fragrant sticks, they only needed to correctly recognize all the smells.
Based on cognitive tests, researchers were able to identify 75 percent of people with cognitive disorders in the group, however, the “sniffing” test showed the result of 87%. Timely detection of MCI is important, since a slight cognitive disorder, as you know, occurs several years before the actual Alzheimer.
Now the researchers bring their method “to mind”. As soon as it becomes an orderly enough, it will begin to use it massively in medical institutions as a screening among older people. “We hope to reduce the time that is required for the test. Usually it takes from five to eight minutes, plans to reduce it to three so that a short test remains effective in the diagnosis of MCI and Slobuemy, ”says Roalf.
Source: Newatlas.com