by Silvia Turin
A simple test can help with population screening: balance is an important indicator of current and future health (including the brain).
Balance problems can be a sign of mild cognitive impairment, a condition characterized by small changes in cognitive ability that can sometimes lead to Alzheimer’s. A new test can accurately measure useful parameters and serve as a population screening.
The discovery
A nutrigenomics research group at Tsukuba University School of Medicine in Japan has developed a new test to measure balance ability and combined the results with tests commonly used to screen cognitive ability. The team found that the poor scores on the physical tests matched those on the cognitive tests. An observation that is not new but is important because an earlier diagnosis of cognitive impairment allows us to anticipate a possible future Alzheimer’s diagnosis, as people with cognitive impairment are at greater risk of progressing the disease.
The comment
The study, recently published in B MC Geriatrics, looked at healthy volunteers aged 56 to 75 with no apparent cognitive impairment. The results were surprising – explained the study’s lead author, Professor Naoya Yahagi -: we found that balance scores were strongly associated with cognitive impairment. Since changes in vestibular function have been associated with both cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, we aimed to develop a new method to efficiently assess such changes in the general population. This new scale could be a useful tool to study the population, says Professor Yahagi.
risk of other diseases
The test is simple and inexpensive, based on a foam balance board used by many sports video game platforms.
Not the first time balances have been highlighted as an important factor in predicting future health: a study by a Brazilian team found that 20% of 1,700 elderly people tested with a balance test could not balance for 10 seconds and that inability was associated with a doubled risk of death from any cause within 10 years. So the balance spies not only cognitive problems, but general ones. Loss of balance can actually be caused by a variety of factors, many of which are related to age and frailty, particularly in the elderly.
February 19, 2023 (change February 19, 2023 | 17:42)
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