Behavior changes offer clues that dementia could be brewing

Researchers on Sunday outlined a syndrome called "mild behavioral impairment" that may be a harbinger of Alzheimer's or other dementias, and proposed a checklist of symptoms to alert doctors and families.

Early memory problems called "mild cognitive impairment," or MCI, can raise the risk of later developing dementia, and worsening memory often is the trigger for potential patients or their loved ones to seek medical help.

It's not uncommon for people with dementia to experience neuropsychiatric symptoms, too — problems such as depression or "sundowning," agitation that occurs at the end of the day — as the degeneration spreads into brain regions responsible for more than memory.

[...] previous studies have found that people with mild cognitive impairment are at greater risk of decline if they also suffer more subtle behavioral symptoms.

Ismail is part of an Alzheimer's Association committee tapped to draft a checklist of the symptoms that qualify — new problems that linger at least six months, not temporary symptoms or ones explained by a clear mental health diagnosis or other issues such as bereavement, he stressed.

Researchers examined records from 2,785 older adults who'd participated in a previous trial that compared three cognitive training strategies — to improve memory, reasoning or reaction times —with no intervention.

A decade later, that reaction-time training suggested benefit: 12 percent of people who'd completed up to 10 hours had evidence of cognitive decline or dementia compared with 14 percent in the control group, said Dr. Jerri Edwards of the University of South Florida.