Early..

It could be possible to spot signs of dementia up to nine years before diagnosis, a new study has found.

“The impairments were often subtle, but across a number of aspects of cognition. This is a step being able to screen people who are at greatest risk - for example, people over 50 or those who have high blood pressure or do not do enough exercise - and intervene at an earlier stage to help them reduce their risk.”

For the study, researchers analysed data from the UK Biobank database and pinpointed problem solving and number recall as two of the early signs patients could develop dementia.

“It is increasingly clear that the best chance to affect the course of the diseases which cause dementia lies in intervening at their earliest stages.