With a spatula
Scientists at the University of Birmingham have identified a symptom of dementia that can occur several years or even decades before the memory and thinking problems characteristic of the disease appear. The new study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine (part of the Lancet Discovery Science project), suggests that recurring nightmares in middle age are a signal that should alert us.
By The reason
“We have shown for the first time that distressing dreams or nightmares may be related to the risk of dementia and cognitive decline among healthy adults in the general population. This is important because there are very few risk indicators for dementia that can be identified as early as middle age,” says Dr Abidemi Otaiku, from the Center for Human Brain Health at the University of Birmingham.
Nightmares and dementia: How was the study done?
The researchers examined data from more than 600 adult men and women ages 35 to 64; and 2,600 US adults aged 79 and older. All participants were free of dementia at the start of the study and were followed for an average of nine years for the younger group and five years for older participants.
Data began to be collected between 2002 and 2012 and participants completed a variety of questionnaires, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, which includes a question about how often people experience nightmares. These data were analyzed using statistical software to find out if participants with a higher frequency of nightmares were more likely to experience cognitive decline and be diagnosed with dementia.
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