Anxiety Could Hasten Alzheimer’s, Study Says

A new study has identified anxiety as a condition that can hasten the development of Alzheimer’s disease in people with mild cognitive impairment, who are at risk of slowly developing Alzheimer’s over a few years.

The research team, led by researchers at Baycrest Health Sciences’ Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, Canada, also found that patients with mild cognitive impairment who had reported anxiety at any time over the follow-up period had greater rates of atrophy in parts of the brain important for creating memories. 

“Our findings suggest that clinicians should routinely screen for anxiety in people who have memory problems because anxiety signals that these people are at greater risk for developing Alzheimer's,” said Dr. Linda Mah, principal investigator on the study, clinician-scientist with Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute, and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

The Baycrest study has yielded important evidence that anxiety is a “predictive factor” of whether an individual with mild cognitive impairment will convert to Alzheimer's or not, said Dr. Mah.

“While there is no published evidence to demonstrate whether drug treatments used in psychiatry for treating anxiety would be helpful in managing anxiety symptoms in people with mild cognitive impairment or in reducing their risk of Alzheimer's, we think that at the very least stress management programs could be recommended.”

For more about this study, visit http://www.baycrest.org/news/anxiety-can-damage-brain-accelerate-conversion-to-alzheimers-for-those-with-mild-cognitive-impairment/.