Health problems rise before early-onset Alzheimer’s, but not familiar risk factors

People diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before age 65 have more health problems and healthcare visits in the years before diagnosis, a study by the universities of Oulu and Eastern Finland has found, Yle reports.

The study compared health records for 407 people with early-onset Alzheimer’s with those of more than 4,000 people of the same age and sex. The data came from memory clinics at Oulu and Kuopio university hospitals and national health registers.

In the five years before diagnosis, people who developed Alzheimer’s were more likely than the comparison group to have depression, dizziness, headaches, brain injuries, epilepsy, cerebrovascular disorders, thyroid diseases and problems linked to heavy alcohol use. Tinnitus and hearing loss were more common six to 10 years before diagnosis.

High blood pressure and disorders of lipid metabolism, well-known Alzheimer’s risk factors in older age, were not more common among those with early-onset disease.

There were no significant differences in health problems 11 to 15 years before diagnosis. Healthcare use and the number of health problems increased markedly about five years before diagnosis, with the sharpest rise in the final year.

Individual symptoms do not predict Alzheimer’s on their own, said Laura Leppänen, a doctoral researcher at the University of Oulu. Recognising a pattern of symptoms and healthcare visits could help prompt earlier investigation, she said.

The findings, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, are part of the DEGE-RWD research project coordinated by the National Neurocenter.