By Michael C. Purdy
Audio download
available
Falls and balance
problems may be early indicators of
Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at
Washington University School of Medicine
in St. Louis report July 17, 2011, at
the Alzheimer’s Association
International Conference on Alzheimer’s
Disease in Paris.
Scientists found that
study participants with brain changes
suggestive of early Alzheimer’s disease
were more likely to fall than those
whose brains did not show the same
changes. Until now, falls had only been
associated with Alzheimer’s in the late
stages of dementia.
“If you meet these
people on the street, they appear
healthy and have no obvious cognitive
problems,” says lead author Susan Stark,
PhD, assistant professor of occupational
therapy and neurology. “But they have
changes in their brain that look similar
to Alzheimer’s disease, and they have
twice the typical annual rate of falls
for their age group.”
Stark and her colleagues
recruited 119 volunteers from studies of
aging and health at Washington
University’s Knight Alzheimer’s Disease
Research Center. All the participants
were 65 or older and cognitively normal.
Brain scans showed that
18 participants had high levels of
amyloid plaques, a hallmark of
Alzheimer’s. The other 101 volunteers
had normal amyloid levels in the brain.
Participants were given
a journal and asked to note any falls.
When they did so, the researchers
followed up with a questionnaire and a
phone interview about the falls. This
follow-up allowed researchers to gather
information for future analyses that
will compare and contrast the nature of
the falls.
About one in three
adults age 65 or older typically fall
each year. But in the 18 participants
with high amyloid levels in the brain,
two-thirds fell within the first eight
months of the study. High levels of
amyloid in the brain were the best
predictor of an increased risk of falls.
“Falls are a serious
health concern for older adults,” Stark
says. “Our study points to the notion
that we may need to consider preclinical
Alzheimer’s disease as a potential
cause.”
Washington University
School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and
volunteer faculty physicians also are
the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and
St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The
School of Medicine is one of the leading
medical research, teaching and patient
care institutions in the nation,
currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S.
News & World Report. Through its
affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St.
Louis Children’s hospitals, the School
of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare
