Vision problems have become a factor in dementia screening, according to a new study.
Researchers from Loughborough University, England, have suggested that our eyes reveal a lot about the health of our brain.
The study, published in the US National Library of Medicine, found that eye health can predict dementia, a neurological syndrome, at least 12 years before it is diagnosed.
Dementia is currently the seventh leading cause of death and one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people globally. Currently, more than 55 million people have dementia worldwide.
It is a condition that impairs a person’s ability to remember, think, and make decisions which interfere with doing everyday activities. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia.
The researchers conducted a study based on 8,623 healthy people in Norfolk, England, who were followed up for many years.
By the end of the study, 537 participants had developed dementia, so we could see what factors might have preceded this diagnosis.
At the start of the study, participants were asked for a visual sensitivity test.
According to the authors, “For the test, they (participants) had to press a button as soon as they saw a triangle forming in a field of moving dots. People who would develop dementia were much slower to see this triangle on the screen than people who would remain without dementia.”
Early signs of memory problems may not always involve forgetfulness but could include changes in vision.
In Alzheimer’s disease, harmful amyloid plaques might affect parts of the brain linked to eyesight first. As the disease advances, memory-related areas suffer damage, leading to more obvious cognitive decline.
So vision tests may find deficits before memory tests do, according to the researchers.
