New study by San Diego researchers can predict brain changes due to Alzheimer’s

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – San Diego researchers have found that subtle cognitive difficulties can predict brain changes due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System report that accumulating amyloid — an abnormal protein linked to neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) — occurred faster among persons deemed to have “objectively-defined subtle cognitive difficulties” (Obj-SCD) than among persons considered to be “cognitively normal.”

Dr. Kelsey Thomas, the study’s first author, Assist. Prof. of Psychiatry at UCSD & Research Health Scientist at VA San Diego Healthcare System, was in studio to tell us more.

Full study: https://n.neurology.org/content/early/2019/12/29/WNL.0000000000008838