Early Signs of Dementia, Falls, Changes in Balance and Gait

According to this study, a fall by an older adult who otherwise has a low risk of falling may signal a need for diagnostic evaluation for Alzheimer's," continued Carrillo.Memory TestsThe 8-month study followed 125 older adults currentlyenrolled in longitudinal studies of memory and aging at Washington University's federally funded Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC).All participants had PiB PET imaging and contributed samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).Each participant was asked to record in a journal how many times they experienced a fall, which was defined as unintentional movement to the floor, ground or an object below knee level. Some of participants had preclinical Alzheimer's and some did not.With an average of 191 days of data collected for participants,the study found that 48 people experienced at least one fall. A positive PiB PET image resultedin a 2.7 times greater risk of a fall for each unit of increase on their PiB PET scan.How to Get Answers To Your Questions About Alzheimer's and Dementia Care"To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify a risk of increased falls related to a diagnosis of preclinical Alzheimer's disease," said Stark. "This finding is consistent with previous studies of mobility problems among persons with very early symptomatic Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment. It suggests that higher rates of falls can occur very early in the disease process."What is the Difference Between Alzheimer ’s and DementiaAlzheimer...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - Category: Neurology Tags: alzheimer's alzheimer's symptoms alzheimers help balance dementia care falls gait heath help with dementia care lifestyle memory care facility nursing home Source Type: blogs