New Delhi, January 18 (IANS). Research has revealed that changes in the brain with aging may cause cognitive problems in people with sickle cell disease.
Sickle cell disease is a type of genetic disorder. In this, red blood cells change into abnormal shapes and can cause blockage in blood vessels. This can cause many health problems.
People suffering from this disease may also face problems in remembering, concentrating, learning and problem-solving.
Patients face these conditions even without brain stroke. To understand this, researchers and physicians at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis examined more than 200 young adults with and without sickle cell disease.
All of them were subjected to MRI scan and cognitive test. Each person’s brain age was calculated using a brain age prediction tool.
The estimated brain age was compared to the person’s actual age. The results, published in JAMA Network Open, showed that the brains of participants with sickle cell disease appeared to be an average of 14 years older than their actual age.
Sickle cell participants with older-looking brains also scored lower on cognitive tests.
The team said, in addition, the research revealed that the brains of people facing economic deprivation also appear older.
On average, there was a seven-year difference between the brain age of healthy individuals experiencing poverty and the participants’ actual age.
Andrea Ford, professor of neurology at Washington University Medicine, said, “Sickle cell disease is congenital. In this disease, oxygen does not reach the brain.”
The study said that there is a need to understand the impact of sickle cell disease and economic deprivation on brain structure.
The team also noted that a single MRI scan could be a powerful tool in helping patients with neurological conditions.
–IANS
MKS/CBT
