It’s easy to write a fall off as a simple trip or loss of balance.
But in some cases, it can be the sign of something more serious.
A recent study that was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease has created a compelling argument for screening older adults who experience falls for Alzheimer’s – even if they don’t have a record of cognitive problems.
“In the world of fall research, we generally say that you’re at risk of falling if you lose strength and balance,” says the study’s co-senior author Susan Stark, an associated professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
“If you lose strength and balance, the recommended treatment is to work on strength and balance. But if someone is falling for another reason, maybe because his or her brain has begun accumulating Alzheimer’s-related damage, that person might need a different treatment entirely.”
Link between falls and cognitive decline
Professor Stark and her colleagues have been able to show a link between Alzheimer’s and falling, even in the “silent” phase of the disease where there are no obvious outward symptoms.
Researchers followed 83 people aged over 65 for a year as part of the study.
All the participants were assessed as cognitively normal at the study’s commencement, and were required to record any falls in monthly calendars.
This data was cross-referenced against brain scans.
Interestingly, researchers found the participants who fell regularly had smaller readings for the regions of the brain devoted to memory. This is significant, as this is the region that typically shrinks as Alzheimer’s develops. The web of connections that control movement and receive sensors also showed signs of decay in the participants who fell.
An indicator for early intervention
Professor Beau Ances, who also worked on the paper, said while these findings were confronting, they’ve been useful in terms of helping understand how his patients are tracking.
“When a person’s mobility is being diminished, even though the person looks very normal, that could be a sign that something needs further evaluation,” Ances says.
“It’s actually a really important potential marker that should make us say, ‘Wait a minute. Let’s dive into this more. Are there other things that go along with it?”
Simple changes to prevent falls
The researchers are now trying to better understand why the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s increase the risk of falling. Until then, Professor Stark recommends a few simple changes to the home can go a long way to preventing falls.
“Simple changes could help and can’t hurt: making sure the tub isn’t slippery; making sure you can get up easily off the toilet; balance and strength training; reviewing your prescriptions to see if certain medications or combinations of medications are increasing the risk of falling,” she said.
“Until we have specific fall-prevention treatments for people with preclinical Alzheimer’s, there are still plenty of things we can do to make people safer.”
Makes sense on our end.
