More amyloid in the brain, more cognitive decline
The study, published in JAMA Neurology , used positron emission tomography (PET) scans to detect amyloid in 184 healthy middle-age and older adults participating in the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study. Amyloid plaques, a sticky buildup that gradually gathers outside of neurons and is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, are believed to start accumulating in the brain 10 to 20 years before the onset of dementia. "We think it is critical to examine middle-age adults to detect the earliest possible signs of Alzheimer's disease, because it is becoming increasingly clear that early intervention is the key to successful prevention of Alzheimer's disease," said Michelle Farrell, a PhD student at the center and the lead author of the study. The study presents some of the first data on amyloid and its cognitive consequences in adults ages 40 to 59. For these middle-age adults, the study found that higher amyloid amounts were associated with declines in vocabulary, an are...