New Delhi, January 13 (IANS). According to one study, cognitive problems, including increased difficulty concentrating but good immediate memory and recall, may help identify Lewy body dementia.
Lewy body dementia (DLB) is the most common neurodegenerative dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. But it is often misdiagnosed, due to which the patient does not get the right treatment on time.
To help detect the disease early and improve outcomes, researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus gathered information from available studies and created a cognitive profile. This profile can help differentiate Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer’s before they reach their dementia stage.
This could help better inform the direction of care for people with these diseases, said lead author Eis Bayram, an assistant professor of neurology at the university.
The study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia, found similarities in cognitive symptoms in people with DLB compared to Alzheimer’s patients, in a meta-analysis of pre-dementia stage diagnoses.
In the pre-dementia stage, people with DLB showed greater decline in attention span, thinking speed and decision-making ability, while their memory and ability to recall things quickly remained better than Alzheimer’s patients.
The team also found that people with DLB are more sensitive to drugs commonly prescribed to treat psychosis, such as haloperidol, which can worsen their condition.
“Identifying cognitive profiles gave us the results we needed to suggest guidelines that could train physicians to more easily formulate better plans of care,” Bairam said.
Researchers say that early identification of the type of dementia may make it easier for both the person suffering from dementia and their caregiver partner to plan for the future. Also, treating the right symptoms makes the disease easier to control.
–IANS
MKS/AS
