If you had the opportunity to know your odds of developing Alzheimer’s in the not-too-distant future, would you take it? And how might the knowledge change you? Research this week is among the first to try answering that second question.
Scientists in Israel and the U.S. conducted the study, which surveyed hundreds of people before and after they received a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan to assess their Alzheimer’s risk status. Regardless of whether they tested positive or negative for increased Alzheimer’s risk, their mental health remained stable. That said, people did become less motivated to maintain healthy lifestyle habits that could reduce their dementia risk, the study found.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, currently affecting over 7 million Americans. There is still some debate over how Alzheimer’s develops, but one of its defining characteristics is a build-up of amyloid beta plaques in the brain (plaques being the hardy clumps of a misfolded form of amyloid beta).
This buildup starts to happen years, even decades, before someone shows the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and a specific type of PET scan can eventually spot the build-up. The test alone doesn’t confirm whether someone has or will develop Alzheimer’s, but it can rule out the condition (at least in the near future), and is currently an important tool for diagnosing and monitoring the potential risk of Alzheimer’s.
There has been some research looking at how people are affected by knowing their Alzheimer’s risk, but these studies have typically been small or involved people who might already be seeking potential experimental treatments for Alzheimer’s, according to the researchers (certain inherited mutations all but guarantee a person will develop early-onset Alzheimer’s). They wanted to see how a relatively large group of cognitively healthy people in particular would respond to learning their risk from PET scans.
They recruited 199 healthy people aged 40 and older who had a family history of Alzheimer’s for their study. Before the PET scan, the volunteers were surveyed about their current mental health, how worried they were about their memory, and how motivated they were about adopting or maintaining healthy habits thought to reduce dementia risk, such as exercising regularly. Six months after their test, they were asked the same questions.
People whose scans ruled out an immediate risk of Alzheimer’s, the researchers found, experienced noticeable improvements in their overall levels of depression, anxiety, and memory concerns. Meanwhile, people with a confirmed risk of Alzheimer’s experienced less anxiety and didn’t become more depressed or more worried about their memory than before. Both groups, however, reported feeling less motivated to stick to their healthy habits.
“Our findings suggest no psychological harm in elevated and non-elevated [amyloid beta] PET scan status disclosure,” the authors wrote in their paper, published Wednesday in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
The findings are especially relevant since we might be on the brink of a breakthrough in treating Alzheimer’s. Several anti-amyloid drugs have been approved in recent years that can clear plaque from the brain and potentially slow down the progression of cognitive decline. These drugs are only modestly effective, but scientists are working on newer drugs or methods that could boost the potency of these treatments. Another promising approach might come from giving high-risk individuals anti-amyloid medications many years before they would be expected to show symptoms.
If early preventative treatment can work as hoped, it’s possible that PET scans will become a common screening tool for Alzheimer’s, the researchers say. That means understanding how people will react to their results is important, especially if we want to further reduce their risk. Even if today’s medicine can’t stop Alzheimer’s from happening, for instance, studies have estimated up to 45% of cases are tied to lifestyle habits that we can change for the better. So finding a way to keep people motivated to stay healthy will be vital for Alzheimer’s prevention moving forward.
“The decrease in motivation to implement lifestyle changes after the disclosure of elevated or non-elevated [amyloid beta] status warns against false reassurance during the disclosure process,” the researchers wrote.
In other words, learning about your Alzheimer’s risk shouldn’t be the end of the road. Regardless of your status, there’s a lot you can do to keep your aging brain and body in relatively good shape, from regular cardio to getting certain vaccines. And someday soon, there might be even more tools available to ward off dementia.
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