Short-term memory loss may best predict Alzheimer's

New Delhi, Sept 6 (ANI): Spanish researchers have found that a short-term memory loss may help predict Alzheimer's disease.

Lead researcher Dr. Gomar of Centro de Investigation Biomedica en Red de Salud Mental, Barcelona, and colleagues looked at 116 people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who developed Alzheimer's disease within two years, 204 patients with the condition who didn't develop Alzheimer's and 197 people with no cognitive problems.

After assessing them by biomarker tests and cognitive measures, the researcher found the cognitive markers can forecast the variance, English.news.cn reported.

"Remarkably, they accounted for nearly 50 percent of the predictive variance," said Dr. Gomar.

Mild cognitive impairment at the start of the study was a stronger predictor of Alzheimer's than most biomarkers, the researchers concluded.

The finding is published in Archives of General Psychiatry, an American Medical Association journal. (ANI)