A Chinese teenager often is the youngest person ever to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, in line with a January study from the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Researchers from Capital Medical University’s Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing diagnosed a 19-year-old man with the brain disorder after he showed “gradual memory decline for two years,” leaving him unable to finish highschool.
Alzheimer’s is essentially the most common type of dementia and affects memory, pondering and behavior. The degenerative disease primarily affects older adults, making this case truly exceptional.
“This case brings attention to the heterogeneous nature of dementia that may involve people at any age,” said George Perry, notable neuroscientist and editor-in-chief of the journal. “Significantly, this finding may separate Alzheimer’s disease from the complexity of aging and open the sector to latest concepts to advertise innovation.” Perry was not involved within the study.
The authors of the paper noted that the 19-year-old had significant memory impairment and hippocampal atrophy, an early marker of the disease. After ruling out other potential causes for the young man’s symptoms, he was diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s.
The patient’s symptoms began when he was around 17, two years before he was evaluated at Xuanwu Hospital. What began as difficulties concentrating in school quickly worsened a yr later to short-term memory loss, in line with the study.
The teenager would steadily lose his belongings, would forget the events of yesterday and had trouble reading, and even his reactions were delayed. As his memory declined, he would forget whether he had eaten or not. Eventually, he needed to withdraw from highschool.
Researchers administered the widely used World Health Organization-University of California Los Angeles Auditory Verbal Learning Test and located the young patient had significantly impaired memory.
“That is the youngest case ever reported to fulfill the diagnostic criteria for probable (Alzheimer’s disease) without recognized genetic mutations,” the authors said, noting that every one other patients known to have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s under 30 had some genetic mutation with links to the disease.
Before the case of the 19-year-old got here to light, the youngest person to have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s was a 21-year-old who had a gene mutation.
Young-onset dementia, because it’s referred to by the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, accounts for an estimated two to eight per cent of all dementia cases. About 28,000 Canadians under the age of 65 live with young-onset dementia.
In line with the Mayo Clinic, considered one of three genes (APP, PSEN1 or PSEN2) can potentially be passed on from a member of the family and will carry increased risks of developing Alzheimer’s.
The three genes are present in lower than one per cent of all individuals with Alzheimer’s, but around 11 per cent of all young-onset dementia cases.
Age stays the largest risk factor for Alzheimer’s, but this study goals to encourage further attention to young-onset dementia.
“Exploring the mysteries of young individuals with Alzheimer’s disease may develop into one of the vital difficult scientific questions of the long run,” the researchers said.
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