Dementia Breakthrough !

Dementia is that silent disease that robs people of their decision making skills and is most common in old age.   There is no cure and we are only beginning to understand it, but University College of London has discovered what may possibly be a fairly simple test to determine who may suffer dementia as long as ten years before the first symptoms become noticeable.

Doctors at the British Heart Foundation  report that as the heart beats, the physical pulse it generates reaches different parts of the body at different levels of intensity.  Researchers found that healthy, elastic  vessels near the heart usually cushion each heartbeat, diminishing its energy and preventing it from reaching delicate blood vessels elsewhere in the body.

Factors such as ageing and high blood pressure can cause these vessels to stiffen and diminish that protective effect.  As a result, a progressively stronger pulse can travel deep into the brain's fragile vessels.   Over time, this can cause damage to the small vessels of the brain, bring structural changes to the brain's blood vessel network and minor bleeds known as mini strokes.  All this may contribute to the development of dementia.

This opens a fascinating area of study to determine whether lifestyle changes and medicine that reduces pulse wave intensity can delay cognitive decline.  A fairly simple blood test may determine who is more likely to suffer accelerated  cognitive decline in the following years.

This is certainly a medical breakthrough but it comes at a time when all our medical results are being collated to provide a central individual medical history to assist doctors and hospitals who may need to give us treatment.   Would we want our employer to know that our future decision making skills are under threat ?  The security of medical information is an issue that worries many people.

Knowing that we are likely to eventually suffer dementia can be an integral part of estate planning for intelligent people.    They may select a person to act with a power of attorney to manage their affairs when that becomes necessary and have such a document signed and witnessed  against such an eventuality.   Selecting a person with the necessary integrity and skill may be outside the family circle and needs to be made while the brain function is still intact.

Unfortunately, measuring this pulse is not likely to be the only measure of future cognitive decline and this offers no immediate hope of a cure.   Why some people suffer dementia and others exist to extreme old age completely free remains one of life's mysteries.  It also seems factual that dementia often follows a traceable thread in family histories.   Some of the most noticeable people who made great accomplishments in their lifetime were as likely to die with dementia as absolute paupers.

It is highly likely that many will decline this test when it becomes available.   How our life ends is not something many want to know !