▎ WuXi AppTec content team editor
Alzheimer's disease has the highest incidence of dementia in the world.
According to the Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease in China, the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease is between 3% and 4% in people over 65 years old in China. In other words, 3 to 4 out of every 100 elderly Chinese people currently get the disease. By 2050, the number of people with Alzheimer's disease in China is expected to reach 21 million.
The "China Development Report 2020: Development Trends and Policies for the Aging of the Chinese Population" predicts that by 2050, about 5 out of every 100 people over the age of 65 will have Alzheimer's disease. With the acceleration of the aging trend, Alzheimer's disease, as the most common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly, people hope to prevent this disease better and more timely, so it is very important for more people to understand its early symptoms and increase vigilance.
In recent decades, it has been noted that many psychological problems have also been linked to cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease, such as anxiety and depression.
A recent study suggests that symptoms of depression and anxiety in late middle age (51 to 60 years old in this study) may be an indicator of the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease progression.
Why did you think of associating anxiety and depression with this disease?
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Because researchers have found that symptoms of depression and anxiety may increase the risk of cognitive decline, and cognitive decline is an early sign of dementia.
If we can better understand the relationship between these psychological conditions and cognitive ability in middle age, we may be able to screen out more people at risk of dementia and intervene and treat them early.
To test the above conclusions, the team enlisted 2657 community residents aged 40 to 70 to participate in the study.
They didn't have any dementia or related cognitive problems, didn't have serious brain trauma, neurological or psychiatric disorders, and never used any medications to treat Alzheimer's disease.
The study, led by Monash University, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Australia, used a variety of methods to measure depression and anxiety in hopes of measuring the dimensions of the structure of these two mental disorders as accurately as possible; objective cognition was measured using the Cogstate. Subjective cognition was assessed using the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) Cognitive Function Scale (CFI).
The study tested the Depression Scale found that there were 5 symptomatic factors that may have an effect on cognitive levels (memory, attention) and cognitive function composite scores: apathy, fatigue, negative emotions, positive emotions, and low self-esteem.
The Anxiety Scale identifies three factors that affect cognition: nervousness, panic, and somatic symptoms.
Finally, the study came to the following conclusions:
1) Overall, people with higher levels of anxiety symptoms (rather than depressive symptoms) in late middle age (ages 51 to 60) may have worse attention and memory than people without psychological conditions.
2) 51- 60-year-olds with higher levels of anxiety symptoms, especially those with higher levels of "physical fatigue", are subjectively more worried about their cognitive decline.
3) In the 61-70 age group, age growth had a greater impact on memory loss than depression and anxiety symptoms.
4) In the 40-50 age group, no relevant differences were found in memory levels, regardless of the severity of depression and anxiety symptoms.
"The findings suggest that subjective concerns about their cognitive level may be related to psychological or emotional symptoms, but they don't really have memory or thinking dysfunction, at least in middle-aged people." Associate Professor Yeen Ying Lim, one of the study's authors, said.
Anxiety symptoms in middle age may increase the risk of developing dementia later in life, and screening for these symptoms can help identify people at risk of cognitive decline, which in turn can help us prevent dementia more effectively.
As Associate Professor Yeen Ying Lim concludes, "What the hell is going on in the brain?" From depression and anxiety symptoms, cognitive decline to final dementia, how did it develop step by step? To know the exact answer, more research is needed in the future. ”
So, how to prevent depression and anxiety?
The work pressure and life rhythm of modern society have made negative emotions such as anxiety and depression high in the population, and after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the proportion of anxiety and depression has also increased in some groups, and mental health and emotions have increasingly become problems that cannot be ignored.
Studies have pointed out that exercise will provide an individualized therapy with few side effects and easy to start, used alone or in combination with other standard therapies, to help people relieve anxiety to some extent.
In addition, studies have shown that meditation can help relieve daily stress, reduce emotional symptoms associated with anxiety and depression, prevent cardiovascular disease, and improve overall emotional state and well-being.