Experts Flag 6 Early Dementia Symptoms Years Before Diagnosis
Updated
Updated · The Times of India · Jul 22
Experts Flag 6 Early Dementia Symptoms Years Before Diagnosis
3 articles · Updated · The Times of India · Jul 22
Summary
Six early warning signs — mood shifts, sleep problems, smell loss, autonomic changes, slower walking or weaker grip, and personality changes — can appear years or even decades before dementia is diagnosed.
Brain changes in early dementia may affect emotional, sensory and physical systems before memory declines, experts said, making persistent nonmemory symptoms worth discussing with a doctor.
Research cited in the report links depression to more than double later dementia risk, finds smell problems in about 85% of early Alzheimer’s cases, and shows gait changes up to a decade before cognitive symptoms.
No single symptom proves dementia, because depression, sleep disorders, medication effects and other treatable conditions can look similar; early evaluation can rule out reversible causes and guide lifestyle changes or neurological testing.
The broader takeaway is that dementia is not only a memory disorder, and earlier recognition could become more important as blood tests aimed at detecting Alzheimer’s before classic symptoms continue to develop.