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New research links "silent strokes," or small spots of dead brain cells, found in about one out of four older adults to memory loss in the elderly (Neurology, Jan. 3, 2012).
"The new aspect of this study of memory loss in the elderly is that it examines silent strokes and hippocampal shrinkage simultaneously," said study author Adam Brickman, PhD, of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
The study involved 658 people, age 65 and older, who were free of dementia. They underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans, as well as tests that measured memory, language, information processing speed and visual perception. A total of 174 of the participants had silent strokes.
People with silent strokes scored somewhat worse on memory tests than those without silent strokes, the study revealed. This was true whether people had a small hippocampus or not.
"Given that conditions like Alzheimer's disease are defined mainly by memory problems, our results may lead to further insight into what causes symptoms and the development of new interventions for prevention," said Dr. Brickman. "Since silent strokes and the volume of the hippocampus appeared to be associated with memory loss separately in our study, our results also support stroke prevention as a means for staving off memory problems."
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
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