SYDNEY, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Frailty could be key to early dementia diagnosis, accelerating onset, particularly in people who show little or no signs of the disease, an Australian-led study has found.
The study, led by Australia's University of Queensland (UQ), has found that frailty could be an important independent clinical marker to help diagnose and potentially treat dementia, David Ward from UQ's Frazer Institute said in a statement released Wednesday.
"Our findings show older adults living with frailty are diagnosed with dementia two to three years earlier than those who are less frail," said Ward, senior author of the study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
People who were considered frail but did not have the usual dementia-related brain abnormalities developed the condition five to six years earlier, he said.
Researchers in Australia, the Netherlands, Finland, and Canada analyzed 24 years of data from more than 1,600 participants in the U.S.-based Memory and Aging Project and found the link between frailty and earlier dementia diagnosis was consistent across all groups studied, although the effect appeared stronger in men.
Researchers said genetic markers, including the APOE ε4 gene variant associated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, did not influence the findings.
Ward said routinely assessing frailty could help delay dementia progression, adding that frailty is often preventable and treatable through exercise, good nutrition and social engagement. ■
