Houston: Are you forgetful or complain about memory loss?
Beware, it might be due to the loss of gray matter, a symptom which leads to Alzheimer’s disease.
Older adults often complain that their mind is “going.”
This might be a sign that they are losing a part of their brain along with their memory, according to a study.
The study is published in the September 12, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The researchers, led by Dr Andrew J Saykin of Dartmouth, used magnetic resonance imaging scans to look at the brains of 40 people with memory related complaints, then compared the results with scans from 40 people with mild cognitive impairment and 40 others in a control group.
Gray matter is lost in the normal course of aging, and all the volunteers were described as older adults.
However, the loss in the patients who complained of memory related problems but did well on the skills tests was similar to those with a diagnosis of impairment.
The findings, the researchers said, suggested that doctors would do well to pay close attention to patients who say they are having memory problems.
As new treatments and preventive strategies for MCI and AD are developed and refined, they wrote, the earliest possible accurate detection of people at increased risk of dementia would take on critical importance.
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