Older people having memory issues and suffering from anxiety are likely to quickly progress to Alzheimer’s, according to a latest study.
Alzheimer’s disease is associated with stress, mood change, anxiety and depression. These symptoms in some people may act as early indicators of Alzheimer’s in certain older people.
In the new study, the researchers analysed 339 patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. This condition could later develop into full-blown dementia. The researchers of the new study said that anxiety in one level could progress and lead to Alzheimer’s.
Spampinato (professor of radiology at the Medical University of South Carolina) and her team found that people with anxiety issues are more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, when compared to others with lesser anxiety issues.
However, the researchers note that further study could only establish how anxiety could affect the disease. The researchers pointed out that 72 of the 339 patients progressed to Alzheimer’s over several years. They found that people with higher anxiety levels tended to have a quicker progression. The study said that genes also mattered much in the progression of Alzheimer’s. People having a gene variant linked to higher Alzheimer’s risk had a faster decline compared to those with different variants.
