According to the latest findings, in addition to old age, female gender, cardiac arrhythmias and lack of exercise are also risk factors for the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
A team led by Tyrolean psychiatrist Josef Marksteiner, head of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy A at Hall State Hospital, accompanied patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease over a period of two years. In this relatively short period, the limitations caused by dementia increased significantly, the doctors discovered.
As time passed, older age, the presence of cardiac arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation), or even fewer “activities of daily living” were associated with increasingly poorer cognitive functions in patients.
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“Female gender also appears to be a risk factor for cognitive decline.” These factors can be used to predict disease progression so that appropriate treatment plans can be developed.
The greater the disability caused by dementia, the greater the burden on caregivers, the doctors said: “Clinical management of early Alzheimer’s disease should therefore be based on the patient-caregiver duo rather than focusing solely on the patient.”
Source: Krone
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