This 3-Minute Home Test Could Help Spot Higher Alzheimer's Risk

A brainTurns out everything from your spatial awareness to the length of time you can stand on one leg may be linked to your likelihood of developing dementia. However, these are not failsafe tests. In fact, though early dementia diagnosis is key to better treatment, we have not yet developed a simple “positive or negative” test for conditions like Alzheimer’s.Still, a new three-minute test named the Fastball test seems, in a small trial, to have done a good job of finding likely dementia-related memory problems in individuals years ahead of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. What is the Fastball test, and how might it spot early Alzheimer’s? The Fastball test is an electroencephalogram (EEG) that measures people’s brainwaves while they look at a series of images.Some of these images had been presented to the participants before, but they were not told to memorise them ahead of the test. Researchers wanted to see which people seemed to recognise the pictures regardless.This took only three minutes.This paper looked at adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition often seen as a precursor to dementia, but which does not always go on to become it.They found that those who had non-amnesic MCI, which is less linked to later dementia risk, tended to have stronger responses than those with amnesic MCI (linked to a higher risk of developing dementia). It comes after a 2021 paper from the same team, which suggested that the Fastball test helped to measure memory and recognition among those with Alzheimer’s.The test can be done at home One great advantage of the Fastball test is that it can be done at home. “We’re missing the first 10 to 20 years of Alzheimer’s with current diagnostic tools,” Dr George Stothart, who led the study, said.“Fastball offers a way to change that – detecting memory decline far earlier and more objectively, using a quick and passive test.”Chris Wiliams, CEO of BRACE Dementia Research, agreed, adding: “Fastball is an incredible tool that could offer anyone who, for whatever reason, cannot access a dementia diagnosis in a clinical setting”. Still, more research will be needed to offer the test as a large-scale dementia diagnosis tool, though trials are already under way.Related...This Eating Habit Can Be An Early Sign Of DementiaWhat Is Frontotemporal Dementia, The Condition Bruce Willis Is Diagnosed With?Good News – This Hot Drink Could Help Protect Against Dementia

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