Alzheimer’s disease is an incurable and fatal condition that affects over five million people over the age of 65 in the United States. There currently is no way to tell who will develop Alzheimer’s later in life, but research is ongoing to identify risk factors as well as look for a cure. One study out of the University of Hong Kong has identified a connection between Alzheimer’s disease and the hormone testosterone.
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia that gradually causes the brain to stop functioning correctly. The disease damages and eventually destroys brain cells. This is a frightening disease for many people because so little is known about the cause of Alzheimer’s and because there is no cure. In the early stages, patients with Alzheimer’s may have trouble remembering new information or learning new things. As brain cells die, patients gradually become more disoriented, experience behavior changes, may become suspicious or feel threatened by friends and family, and may eventually have difficulty speaking, swallowing, and walking.
The Hong Kong study watched a group of Chinese men who were all over age 55, lived in the same community, and did not have dementia or Alzheimer’s. Forty-seven of the 153 men had some problems with memory loss and clear thinking. During the year-long study, 10 of the men who had some memory loss developed further symptoms of the onset of Alzheimer’s. One common factor between these 10 was that all had low levels of testosterone. Testosterone is the primary sexual hormone in men, although it is also found in women. Hormones are the body’s chemical messengers that carry instructions from the brain to various parts of the body to active chemical processes.
Dr. John Morley, director of the division of geriatric medicine at Saint Louis University, was a member of the research team. He said, “Having low testosterone may make you more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease. The take home-message is we should pay more attention to low testosterone, particularly in people who have memory problems or other signs of cognitive impairment.” The next step for research in this area may be to investigate whether testosterone could be used to prevent Alzheimer’s disease from developing.
As is true of many medical conditions, early detection is crucial to treating the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Although there is no cure, the progression of the disease can sometimes be slowed if it is caught early. Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are developing a blood test that could be an accurate way to diagnose early Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists there are developing a cost-effective test to use a single blood sample to analyze multiple biomarkers. Similar research in the past has tried to find a single biomarker in the blood that gave an accurate diagnosis, but no single marker has been found. The UT researcher’s method of testing multiple markers in one blood sample, when combined with a clinical examination by a doctor, has been 94 percent accurate in detecting Alzheimer’s and 84 percent accurate in ruling out the disease.
Determining risk factors and a method for early detection of the disease are necessary steps for patient care. Research is on-going to find an effective treatment or cure.
Sources:
Eureka Alert: Saint Louis University
Eureka Alert: UT Southwestern Medical Center
Alzheimer’s Association