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Declining
Motor Abilities
Linked with Alzheimer's
Excerpt
By Keith
Mulvihill,
Reuters Health
Rapid worsening of symptoms long associated with Parkinson's disease
-- tremor, muscle rigidity and movement problems -- may be linked
to a heightened risk of the memory-robbing disease Alzheimer's,
a new study suggests.
The findings paint a broader picture
of the types of problems people developing Alzheimer's are apt
to experience, explained the study's lead investigator, Dr. Robert
S. Wilson, during an interview with Reuters Health.
"Alzheimer's is not just a disease
that affects a person's mental abilities," said Wilson.
"As more research is conducted,
we will probably see that the pathological basis of Alzheimer's
disease is multifaceted," he added.
Previous research has shown a link
between declining motor skills and a decline in mental functioning,
explained Wilson.
To further investigate the relationship,
he and his colleagues at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical
Center in Chicago studied the association between the progression
of Parkinson's-like symptoms -- such as tremor and slowed movement
-- and the development of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline
among elderly adults.
They found that, over several years,
the risk of developing Alzheimer's rose in tandem with the rate
of progression in Parkinson's-like symptoms.
The findings are published in the
April issue of the Archives of Neurology.
The researchers evaluated 824 men
and women who were free of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease
at the study's start. The average age of participants was 75.
The participants -- who are all
part of the Religious Orders Study, which aims to study aging
and Alzheimer's disease among Catholic nuns, priests and brothers
in the U.S. -- underwent annual exams that assessed signs of Parkinson's
and Alzheimer's.
After nearly five years, 114 participants
had developed Alzheimer's disease, but none these developed Parkinson's
disease, the report indicates.
However, tests scores that measure
Parkinson's-like symptoms increased -- indicating a worsening
of such symptoms -- in 79 percent of participants. These men and
women were divided into groups with the least, moderate or most-rapid
progression.
"Compared to those who showed no
worsening of their Parkinson's-like symptoms, those that had the
most-rapid increases in symptoms had an eight-fold increase in
their risk for Alzheimer's," Wilson said.
The reason for the association,
though, is uncertain, Wilson noted, and more research on the subject
is needed.
SOURCE: Annals of Neurology 2003;60:539-544.
Reference
Source 89
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