Change in key facial muscle could help identify dementia risk 6 years before diagnosis – are you at risk?
According to researchers, a CHANGE in a brain muscle could be an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.
However, they also offered suggestions on how to stop the most prevalent kind of dementia from developing.
According to a recent study conducted by American researchers, one of the earliest indications of Alzheimer’s disease may be a decline in the temporalis muscle, which is involved in lower jaw movements and activities like chewing.
Skeletal muscles comprise around one-third of an individual’s entire body mass, according to the research team.
Many different movements are made possible by the muscles that are attached to the bones.
However, skeletal muscle mass starts to decline as people age.
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The research team set out to investigate if temporalis muscle loss, a measure of skeletal muscle loss, is linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s dementia in older persons because age-related skeletal muscle loss is frequently observed in older adults with Alzheimer’s disease dementia.
According to earlier research, the thickness and area of the temporalis muscle can serve as a marker for muscle loss across the body.
“Measuring temporalis muscle size as a potential indicator for generalized skeletal muscle status offers an opportunity for skeletal muscle quantification without additional cost or burden in older adults who already have brain MRIs for any neurological condition, such as mild dementia,” stated Dr. Kamyar Moradi, lead author of the study and a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
“This is the first longitudinal study to demonstrate that skeletal muscle loss may contribute to the development of dementia.”
How the study was carried out
Dr. Moradi employed brain MRI tests to measure the loss of skeletal muscle in 621 individuals who did not have dementia and had an average age of 77.
The researchers computed the sum cross-sectional area (CSA) of the bilateral temporalis muscles by manually segmenting those muscles on MRI images.
The 14 science-backed ways to prevent dementia
Two categories of participants were identified: small CSA (488 participants) and large CSA (131 participants).
Their results showed that a higher incidence risk of dementia was linked to a smaller temporalis CSA.
Over the average follow-up period of 5.8 years, a smaller temporalis CSA was similarly linked to a larger decline in structural brain sizes, memory composite scores, and functional activity questionnaire scores.
“When adjusted for other known risk factors, we found that older adults with smaller skeletal muscles are about 60 percent more likely to develop dementia,” stated Professor Marilyn Albert, co-senior author of the study.
However, she claimed that “timely interventions” to address skeletal muscle loss, like exercise, resistance training, and nutritional support, might be made possible by early identification using easily accessible brain MRI.
Professor Shadpour Demehri, a co-senior author of the study, added: “These interventions may help prevent or slow down muscle loss and subsequently reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.”
The results were presented at the Radiological Society of North America’s (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago.
Other ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease…
According to a huge study that was published last year in the journal BMJ Medicine, having a lot of lean muscle may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
To lower your risk, the Alzheimer’s Society also suggests a few easy lifestyle adjustments.
Exercise on a daily basis is thought to be one of the best strategies to lower your risk of dementia because it improves your heart, circulation, weight, and mental health.
Reduce your alcohol intake since excessive alcohol consumption at one time might expose the brain to dangerously high levels of chemicals.
Avoid smoking: Smoking can damage the heart, lungs, and blood arteries in the brain, as well as the blood circulation throughout the body.
Maintain mental health: Social isolation can significantly raise a person’s risk of dementia; therefore, social interaction may be beneficial.
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Control chronic illnesses: Diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol might raise your risk of dementia. Getting frequent health checkups is a crucial part of managing them.
Preserve your hearing and vision because untreated vision loss can raise the risk of dementia. Although wearing hearing aids may help, hearing loss is also linked to an increased risk.
Is it ageing or dementia?
Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent type of dementia, and it develops gradually over time.
The severity of the symptoms may increase as the illness worsens.
However, in the early stages, the symptoms may be mild or confused with typical aging-related memory problems.
Examples of dementia disease and typical aging forgetfulness are provided by the US National Institute on Aging.
You can consult the aforementioned.
For instance, occasionally forgetting the right word is common in older adults, but having trouble conversing would be more suggestive of dementia.
“As humans, we quite frequently put our car keys somewhere out of the ordinary and it takes longer for us to find them,” Katie Puckering, Head of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Information Services team, previously told The Sun.
It takes longer to remember things as you age, or you have to ask yourself, “What was I doing?” Where had I gone? What diverted my attention? Did I need to let the dog out? The keys are then located near the rear entrance.
As people age, their ability to retrieve information becomes slightly slower.
A person suffering from dementia might not remember that knowledge or what they were doing when they entered the property.
Additionally, they might place it in an inappropriate location. For instance, they placed the kettle in the refrigerator instead of the milk.
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