Your Health Matters: Six Dementia Symptoms that Can Appear Years before a Diagnosis

Impaired memory and thinking are the most common symptoms associated with a dementia diagnosis. But noncognitive symptoms can appear years or even decades earlier.

Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases, can progress through three main stages. The first stage can start 15 to 20 years before any obvious changes to cognition. During this time, the brain starts to shrink, and the misfolded proteins that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s begin to build up — sticky amyloid beta plaques in the brain and tau tangles in neurons.

This is followed by mild cognitive impairment, where people begin having noticeable problems with memory and cognition but otherwise have good overall function. Then comes the “dementia” stage, when multiple cognitive domains are impaired, leading to an inability to function independently in day-to-day life.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.