Finnish researchers find more pre-diagnosis issues in people under 65 with Alzheimer’s — News-Medical

In Finland, researchers at the University of Oulu and the University of Eastern Finland found that people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease before the age of 65 had more health problems and used healthcare services more frequently for several years before their diagnosis. As News-Medical reports, this trend was especially noticeable during the five years before diagnosis.

Which conditions occurred more often

Compared with an age- and sex-matched control group without neurodegenerative diseases, patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease were more frequently recorded as having depression, dizziness, headache, traumatic brain injuries, epilepsy, cerebrovascular disorders, thyroid diseases, and problems related to excessive alcohol use.

Tinnitus and hearing loss were more common in this group as early as six to ten years before diagnosis. At the same time, 11 to 15 years before diagnosis, researchers found no significant differences in disease occurrence between patients and the control group.

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Cardiovascular factors

Elevated blood pressure and hyperlipidemia were not more common among people with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease than in the control group. The authors noted that these factors are traditionally associated with Alzheimer’s disease, particularly its late onset.

During the five years before diagnosis, the number of healthcare visits also increased significantly, with the sharpest rise in visits occurring in the final year. The study included data from 407 people with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease from memory clinics at the university hospitals of Oulu and Kuopio, combined with data from national healthcare registers. They were compared with data from more than 4,000 people in the control group, and health conditions and healthcare service use were analyzed for 15 years before diagnosis.

The researchers emphasized that no individual symptom or disease can predict Alzheimer’s disease. However, a combination of different health problems and more frequent healthcare visits may contribute to earlier recognition of the neurodegenerative disease.