A UCL-led team has developed a cognitive test to detect subtle memory deficits years before Alzheimer's disease symptoms develop. The study involved 21 people who carry the mutation for early onset Alzheimer's disease who have not shown any symptoms based on standard cognitive tests, alongside 14 controls. On average the study participants were seven years away from predicted onset of symptomatic disease.
The participants underwent a memory test with 30-minute recall, and were then checked seven days later to see if they still remembered. The authors found that people who were closest to the expected onset of symptoms could remember things after 30 minutes but then had forgotten things after seven days. The researchers say their findings demonstrate that memory formation wasn't the issue, so typical tests wouldn't identify any problems.
The researchers found a correlation between long-term forgetting and subjective memory complaints. This could be the earliest test to detect changes in someone's cognition that lead to Alzheimer's disease. The study's first author, Dr. Philip Weston (UCL Dementia Research Centre), said: "The study would appear to significantly advance the knowledge of the earliest cognitive changes in Alzheimer's, and offers a new useful approach to testing people both in drug trials and in the clinic."
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