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An online test yous can take from home may be able to detect early signs of dementia.
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  • Dementia affects nigh 5 million adults over 65 years one-time in the Usa.
  • A new test yous can take at home may aid detect early symptoms of the disease.
  • The test, known as SAGE, can be taken online or downloaded and completed at your medico's office.
  • The exam poses a series of questions involving identification of objects, math problems, and thinking tasks.
  • Experts say if a person's score declines over a series of years, that could exist a sign they are developing dementia.

A common belief is that dementia is a normal office of aging, but experts say that is not necessarily true.

According to the National Institutes of Health, dementia is non the age-related forgetfulness that might crusade y'all to occasionally misplace your keys or glasses, accept a difficult time finding a word, or forget what you did this morning.

These incidents are usually temporary.

We usually find our spectacles, call up the word (even one or 2 hours later), and retrace our steps to remember what we did this morning.

Dementia is different.

People with dementia might become lost in a familiar neighborhood or use unusual words to refer to objects, such as a spatula equally a "food turner." They tin likewise forget the names of close family members.

Dementia affects approximately 5 million adults over 65 years old in the The states. By the yr 2060, this number could rising to 14 meg.

Dementia is challenging to diagnose, especially in the early stages.

Many people do not seek assist until a family unit member, friend, or healthcare professional notices meaning memory loss, confusion, or difficulty with advice.

Now, a new test, known equally the Cocky-Administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE), might help notice early signs and allow for handling in the beginning stages.

"The test evaluates your thinking abilities and gives your dr. a fashion to see how they change over time," co-ordinate to Dr. Douglas Scharre, a professor of clinical neurology and psychiatry at the Wexner Medical Heart at The Ohio State University.

"For people who don't nevertheless accept symptoms or have balmy symptoms, the first test is the baseline," Scharre told Healthline. "Tests are then completed every 6 months, so your physician can track symptoms. Losing a few points between tests, or over several years, could indicate the person might eventually develop dementia."

The SAGE examination is available on the Wexner Medical Center's website. Information technology includes questions virtually your current health, asks you lot to place pictures of everyday items, consummate elementary math issues, and complete thinking tasks.

The examination can be downloaded and completed at home and then brought to your doctor for scoring. Yous can likewise impress out the test and fill information technology out with your doctor present.

In that location is an online version that automatically scores the exam, just Scharre said, "the examination is meant to be reviewed past your dr.."

If scores decline, the first stride is to decide if in that location is a concrete or mental health cause, such as a vitamin deficiency, loss of kidney function, low, or medication side effects.

"Experts believe that possibly ane out of iii cases of dementia could be prevented past addressing modifiable risk factors, such as eating a brain-healthy diet, regular physical exercise, good sleep habits, and healthy social connections," Dr. Scott A. Kaiser, a geriatric medicine specialist at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, California, told Healthline.

"I of the greatest myths virtually dementia is there is nix we tin do. There is a wide range that can be done to improve the health and quality of life of people with dementia, simply, for the most function, the earlier a trouble is detected, the more that tin exist done," said Kaiser.

Researchers at Ohio State University looked at whether this kind of elementary written test could assistance detect early signs of dementia.

The results of their study, which Scharre was the lead researcher on, show that a reject in scores on the SAGE test indicated eventual dementia.

Based on a review of medical records, 424 individuals fit the criteria for the study. Of those people:

  • Forty had subjective cognitive decline (they felt their memories were getting worse but tested within the normal range).
  • Ninety-four had balmy cognitive impairment that did not progress to dementia.
  • Seventy had mild cognitive impairment that did progress to dementia.
  • Two hundred xx had dementia from the start of the written report.

Participants were followed for 9 years and regularly given the SAGE test and the Mini-Mental Country Examination (MMSE), a widely used screening tool.

  • Participants who moved from mild cognitive impairment to dementia dropped 1.91 points per year on the SAGE test and 1.68 points per year on the MMSE.
  • Participants who had dementia from the showtime dropped i.82 points per yr on the SAGE test and 2.38 points per twelvemonth on the MMSE.
  • Participants with subjective cognitive decline and who had mild cognitive impairment without advancing to dementia remained stable on both tests.

One concern is that people could "game the arrangement" and study the questions on the tests to get a higher score. "That isn't a concern. There are four tests, and each fourth dimension they get 1, it is different. They will but get the same test every two years," Scharre said.

"Suppose someone has the cognitive fortitude to study the exam or memorize it and remember it ii years later. If someone is trying to game the system, that is someone whose thinking and memory skills are good and probably doesn't have cognitive reject," he said.

"Some individuals might not exist concerned enough to seek medical attention and the ability to perform a simple test at home is invaluable in such situations," Dr. Sachin R. Nagrani, a family unit medicine dr. in Brooklyn, New York, told Healthline.

"I would encourage a brief screening test every bit a starting point, whether information technology exist a self-administered newspaper-and-pencil test, a computerized test or smartphone app, or a traditional screening test with a trusted primary care physician," he said.

"Discussing these concerns with a primary care dr. is also very of import considering these tests provide a snapshot in time, and we also care about the moving picture over time," Nagrani said.