Psychiatric Disorders Can Lead to Early Onset of Alzheimer's

New preliminary study reports that out of the people who develop Alzheimer's disease, depressed people may start experiencing symptoms of dementia about two years earlier than those without depression. People with anxiety may start experiencing thesymptoms about three years earlier than those without anxiety. Along with anxiety and depression, the study also screened for a history of other disorders - bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia.

The study involved 1,500 people with Alzheimer's disease, out of which 43% had a history of depression, 32% had anxiety, 1.2% bipolar disorder, 1% post-traumatic stress disorder, and 0.4% schizophrenia.

Findings showed that with each additional psychiatric disorder diagnosis, the age at which the symptoms started decreased. For instance, those with only one disorder developed symptoms about 1.5 years before those with no psychiatric disorders, while those with two conditions developed 3.3 years earlier and those with three or more psychiatric conditions developed 7.3 years earlier.

Other risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, and other atypical risk factors like an autoimmune disease or a history of seizures were also screened for.

Results also showed that depressed and anxious people were more likely to be female and have a younger onset. They were less likely to have the typical Alzheimer's risk factors - depressed people more likely to have an autoimmune disease and anxious people more likely to have a history of seizures.

"While this association between depression and autoimmune disease, and seizures and anxiety is quite preliminary, we hypothesize that the presentation of depression in some people could reflect a greater burden of neuroinflammation," explains Zachary A. Miller, study author.

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"The presence of anxiety might indicate a greater degree of neuronal hyperexcitability, where the networks in the brain are overstimulated, potentially opening up new therapeutic targets for dementia prevention."

He states that further research is needed to understand the impact of such psychiatric disorders on the development of Alzheimer's disease and if treating and managing those disorders will help prevent or delay the onset of dementia for susceptible people.

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"Certainly this isn't to say that people with depression and anxiety will necessarily develop Alzheimer's disease, but people with these conditions might consider discussing ways to promote long-term brain health with their health care providers," he adds.



Source-Eurekalert