Alzheimer's Can Be Spotted In People In Their 30s, Claim Scientists...

ALZHEIMER’S can be spotted in people in their 30s - 20 years before the first symptoms appear, scientists claim.

Researchers have discovered inflammation, which ultimately leads to a gradual loss of brain function, takes place decades before the symptoms first rear their head.

Doctors hope the discovery will allow sufferers time to make lifestyle changes or eventually be able to take drugs to slow down the degenerative condition.

Some such treatments are currently in trial stage and could be available within a few years.

There are currently 850,000 people living with dementia in Britain, with Alzheimer’s being the most common form of the disorder. The figure is expected to rise to one million by 2020.

Researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and the Uppsala University found that the inflammatory changes – knows as astrocyte activation – can take place up to 20 years before any noticeable memory problems kick in.

Professor Agneta Nordberg at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Centre for Alzheimer Research at the Karolinska Institute, said: “Inflammatory changes in the form of higher levels of brain astrocytes are thought to be a very early indicator of disease onset.”

She added: “Astrocyte activation peaks roughly twenty years before the expected symptoms and then goes into decline, in contrast to the accumulation of amyloid plaques, which increases constantly over time until clinical symptoms show.”

It comes months after a landmark study claimed that Alzheimer's can be transmitted through blood transfusions and medical blunders.

Now Swiss doctors are claiming to have discovered a fresh case where the disease appears to have been transmitted during a medical treatment.