Researchers in Iowa say changes in an Alzheimer’s patients’ brain can occur at least 20 years before they are diagnosed with the disease. They’re calling for more education about early warning signs of dementia during Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month. There are at least seven million people age 65 and older in the U-S living with Alzheimer’s, 62-thousand of them are in Iowa. Abby Miesner with the Alzheimer’s Association of Iowa says despite time and money being spent on research, the risk is going up at a younger age, and the numbers are discouraging.

Miesner says those numbers hold true across the board for Blacks and Latinos as well. She adds now that doctors know signs and symptoms could start to occur at an earlier age they are paying attention to signs sooner. Miesner says occasionally misplacing your keys or forgetting why you went into a room are not always cause for concern, but repeatedly forgetting things that are part of your everyday life could be.

Meisner adds earlier detection gives doctors a chance to intervene sooner in a patient’s life.

All of those things can be controlled by developing healthy habits. But a 2022 Alzheimer’s Association report shows 60-percent of people will put off seeing a doctor if they develop symptoms early on, waiting until the symptoms worsen, or family and friends encourage them to seek treatment. The Association is holding educational events statewide all month.

(Iowa News Service)