Unusual early Alzheimer's sign linked to 'strongest' risk found in new study
dailyrecord.co.ukAn early sign associated with the 'strongest' genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease has been revealed in a new study.People with the gene may lose their ability to detect smells earlier than people who do not carry the gene.
This change may be an early sign of future memory and thinking problems, according to the findings of a recently published study in Neurology.Researchers say testing people's ability to smell may be a way to predict problems with cognition.
APOE e4 is the gene variant linked with this increased risk of Alzheimer's and people with the gene started experiencing reduced smell detection at age 65 to 69.At this age, the gene carriers could detect an average of about 3.2 of the smells, compared to about 3.9 smells for the people who did not carry the gene.Published on July 26 in the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, the research comprised of an at-home survey that included testing the sense of smell of over 865 people.
The test was carried out at five-year intervals examined participants' ability to detect an odour at all and their ability to identify what odour they were smelling.Researchers found that people who carried the gene associated with Alzheimer's risk were 37% less likely to have good odour detection than people without the gene at a single time point.The team accounted for other factors that could affect the results, such as age, sex, and educational level, although people with severe dementia were not included.The people carrying the gene variant did not show a difference in their ability to identify what odor they were smelling until they reached age 75 to 79.
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