Don't have your wits about you: More dementia risk

William Atkins
Tuesday, 19 January 2010 19:17

Science - Biology

According to new research from the Washington University School of Medicine, cognitive fluctuations (ups and downs in alertness) within older people may point to increased risk for dementia.


The article summarizing this research is entitled “Effect of cognitive fluctuation on neuropsychological performance in aging and dementia” (Neurology 2010;74:210-217).

Published in the journal Neurology (from the American Academy of Neurology), it was authored by Adriana Escandon, Noor Al-Hammadi, and James E. Galvin, who, at the time of the study were all associated with the Alzheimer Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.

Changes in attentiveness and cognition (such as, staring off into space, periods of sleepiness, times when your train of thought is temporarily lost and then regained) are apparent in Lewy body dementia patients.

Lewy body dementia (or dementia with Lewy bodies [DLB]) causes clumps of proteins known as Lewy bodies (alpha-synuclein and ubiquitin proteins) to form in neurons in the brain.

It causes wide fluctuations in cognition in people affected by the disease, along with hallucinations and rapid eye movement behavior sleep disorder.

Lewy body dementia is thought by the medical profession to be the second most common form of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia.

Because the relationship of cognitive fluctuations in people with or without visible signs of Alzheimer’s disease was unknown before this study, the researchers decided to investigate its affect.

Page two talks about the specifics of the study.