Vision problems can be one of the first signs of brain problems that lead to dementia and Alzheimer's. A new study has found that loss of visual sensitivity can predict dementia 12 years before diagnosis.
3 researchers from the University of Loughborough-Eef Hogervorst have explained their discovery in the article published for "Science Alert".
The research was based on the study of 8,623 healthy people over several years. At the end of the study, 537 participants had developed a form of dementia and this allowed the researchers to analyze the factors that may have predicted it.
According to them, vision problems can be one of the earliest signs of memory problems that lead to Alzheimer's disease, but not only. According to them, before the bigger problems start, the areas of the brain that control vision are affected first.
That said, vision tests can detect deficits before memory results are released.
The eyes play an important role in diseases such as Alzheimer's, as they affect the way the brain perceives images. According to researchers, this disease makes people who have it not distinguish colors and have sensitivity to contrasts. They also have trouble perceiving figures, as their brain does not scan features the same way as a normal person.
But there are also problems with eye movements trying to follow certain objects. It is not yet clear whether improving vision would help improve memory, but numerous studies are being done in this direction to draw a clearer conclusion.
