Certain vision problems may be an early indicator of dementia risk, with the potential to predict diagnosis by up to 12 years, according to a new study. Vision problems can signal the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and eye tests can detect these deficits before more obvious symptoms, such as memory loss, appear.
Vision problems associated with an increased risk of dementia refer specifically to difficulty distinguishing objects in low-contrast images Photo: Shutterstock
Studies suggest that eye movements could have an impact on memory, opening up the possibility of using this information to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people at risk of dementia.
A recent study revealed that loss of visual sensitivity can predict dementia 12 years before the disease is diagnosed. Visual sensitivity, also known as contrast sensitivity, refers to the eye’s ability to distinguish objects that do not differ greatly from their background in terms of brightness or color. It involves the perception of fine differences in intensity between an object and its immediate environment and is important for performing daily activities such as driving at night or recognizing faces in low light.
Loss of visual sensitivity, a possible early sign of dementia
The research included 8,623 healthy people from Norfolk, England, who were monitored over several years. By the end of the study, 537 of them had been diagnosed with dementia, giving the researchers the opportunity to identify factors that might have predicted this development.
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