THE way you breathe may hold clues about your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, scientists have found.
The discovery could “open up a whole new world in the study of Alzheimer’s” and herald new ways of detecting and treating the disease early, they said.
Lancaster University researchers measured the brain blood flow and breathing rates of participants with and without Alzheimer’s disease[/caption]
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia in the UK and it’s characterised by a build-up of toxic proteins in the brain called amyloid and tau.
But research increasingly suggests that blood supply to the brain is “important for disease progression”.
A new study – lead by researchers at Lancaster University – suggests that changes in oxygen supply to the brain can contribute to the degeneration of nerve cells, leading to Alzheimer’s.
Lead author professor Aneta Stefanovska explained: “Alzheimer’s can be hypothesised as being a result of the brain not being appropriately nourished via the blood vessels.”
Scientists examined changes in the brain’s neurovascular unit – which consists of blood vessels connected to neurons via brain cells called astrocytes – in people with the brain robbing condition.
But they made a surprising discovery along the way, finding that people with Alzheimer’s disease tended to breathe more quickly than healthy participants, even when they were at rest.
Thirty-nine people of a similar age participated in the study, published in the journal Brain Communications.
Nineteen of them had Alzheimer’s disease, while the remaining 20 didn’t have the brain robbing condition.
Researchers measured blood flow to their brain and electrical activity by connecting probes to their scalp and conducting an electrocardiogram.
Participants also had a belt wrapped around their chest to monitor their heart rate and breathing.
Dr Bernard Meglič, clinical coordinator of the study, explained: “The vascular system and the brain work together to ensure that the brain receives sufficient energy.
“In fact, the brain needs as much as 20 per cent of the body’s overall energy consumption despite contributing only about 2 per cent of the body’s weight.”
Scientists observed that people with Alzheimer’s disease had lower levels of brain oxygenation, indicating changes the the way blood is supplied to the brain.
They also found that people with the memory robbing disease had a faster breathing rate.
Alzheimer’s patients had approximately 17 breaths per minute, whereas the people in the control group breathed about 13 times per minute, researchers observed.
Professor Stefanovska said: “Quite unexpectedly, we also detected that the respiratory frequency at rest is significantly higher in subjects with Alzheimer’s disease.
“This is an interesting discovery – in my opinion a revolutionary one – that may open a whole new world in the study of the Alzheimer’s disease.
“It most likely reflects an inflammation, maybe in the brain, that once detected can probably be treated and severe states of Alzheimer’s might be prevented in the future.”
Ways to lower your risk of Alzheimer’s
There are things you can do to reduce your own risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s.
No single behaviour is guaranteed to prevent dementia – but there’s lots of evidence to suggest that making tweaks to your lifestyle choices could affect your risk.
Dementia risk is lowest in people who have healthy behaviours in mid-life – from the age of 40 to 65 – according Alzheimer’s Society.
Here are a few easy changes you can make:
- Exercise regularly to boost your heart health and circulation and help maintain a healthy weight.
- Drink less alcohol – try to have no more than 14 units of alcohol a week, about one pint of beer or a small glass of wine each day. If you regularly drink much more than this, you are increasing your risk of damage to your brain and other organs, and so increasing your risk of dementia.
- Don’t smoke – it does a lot of harm to the circulation of blood around the body, particularly the blood vessels in the brain, as well as the heart and lungs.
- Engaging in social activities to help to build up your brain’s ability to relieve stress and improve your mood – depression and social isolation have both been linked to dementia.
- Manage health conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes, which can increase the risk of getting dementia.
- Protect your eyesight and hearing – vision loss increases a person’s risk of developing dementia. The same goes for hearing loss, which can also be an early symptom of dementia.
- Wear a helmet – as traumatic brain injuries can start a process in the brain where the substances that cause Alzheimer’s disease build up around the injured area.
Source: Alzheimer’s Society
Researchers said “respiratory dysfunction” had been observed in previous studies of people with Alzheimer’s.
“A previous study found that a higher respiration rate was linked to cognitive impairment,” they wrote.
“Another study found that both Alzheimer’s disease and controls had similar breathing rates of around 18 breaths/min.
“Further investigations are needed to confirm whether or not a higher respiration rate is common in Alzheimer’s disease patients.”
Dr Meglič said researchers findings regarding blood circulation and blood supply to the brain were “promising targets for future treatments of Alzheimer’s disease”.
Professor Stefanovska added: “We show clear results of our approach and how Alzheimer’s can be detected simply, noninvasively, and inexpensively.
“The method has a great potential, and we are discussing possibilities to create a spin-out or start-up company to proceed with it.”
Previous research has suggested that factors like walking speed and navigational ability could be affected by Alzheimer’s – serving as a way to detect the disease years before other symptoms show.
Other major Alzheimer’s breakthroughs
While experts have warned that dementia diagnoses in England have reached record numbers, there have been a number of recent advances against brain robbing diseases.
From “game-changing” drugs gaining approval to blood tests that can spot the condition years before symptoms, here are other major Alzheimer’s breakthroughs.
- A “game-changing” Alzheimer’s drug called donanemab, that slows mental decline by up to 60 per cent has been approved in the United States. A UK decision on whether the drug will become available to patients in the UK with early symptoms is expected imminently.
- A blood test that detects Alzheimer’s up to 15 years before symptoms emerge is set to be made free on the NHS within a year. The new test is cheaper, easier and at least as accurate as the current diagnosis options and works by measuring levels of a protein in the blood called p-tau217.
- Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind test that could predict dementia up to nine years before a diagnosis, with 80 per cent accuracy. It involves analysing network of connections in the brain when it’s in “idle mode” to look for very early signs of the condition.
- Scientists have also put AI to the test, developing machine learning models were able to spot early warning signs of the memory-robbing condition up to seven years before Alzheimer’s symptoms appear.
- A woman who has evaded Alzheimer’s disease despite half her relatives getting it could hold the clues to how to prevent it, with scientists pinpointing a particular gene which they think could help prevent Alzheimer’s from progressing.
