Scientists Identify a Trait in Speech That Foreshadows Cognitive Decline

 

 With your already higher risk of dementia/MCI post stroke, is your doctor testing for this to create a baseline for you? And what EXACTLY is your doctor's protocol for preventing dementia? Doesn't have one! You don't have a functioning stroke doctor! Why are you seeing them if they are that incompetent?

Your risk of dementia, has your doctor told you of this?

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.`    

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

4. Dementia Risk Doubled in Patients Following Stroke September 2018

The latest here: 

Scientists Identify a Trait in Speech That Foreshadows Cognitive Decline

Early signs of Alzheimer's disease may be hidden in the way a person speaks, but it's not yet clear which details of our diction are most critical for diagnosis.A study from 2023 suggests that as we age, how we say something may matter more than what we say. Researchers at the University of Toronto think the pace of everyday speech may be a better indicator of cognitive decline than difficulty finding a word. Lethologica, also known as 'tip of the tongue' phenomenon, is experienced by young and old alike. But as we grow older, finding the name for things can become more challenging, especially over the age of 60.To explore why that is, researchers at the University of Toronto asked 125 healthy adults, between the ages of 18 and 90, to describe a scene in detail.5 Early, Speech-Related Signs You're at Risk of Alzheimer's Disease Next, the participants were shown pictures of everyday objects while listening to audio that was designed to confirm or confuse them. For instance, if participants were shown a picture of a broom, the audio might say 'groom', which helps them recall the word through rhyme. But on the flip side, the audio might also offer a related word like 'mop', which can lead the brain astray, momentarily. The faster a person's natural speech in the first task, the more quickly they came up with answers in the second task. The findings align with the 'processing speed theory', which argues that a general slowdown in cognitive processing lies at the very center of cognitive decline, not a slowdown in memory centers specifically. "It is clear that older adults are significantly slower than younger adults in completing various cognitive tasks, including word-production tasks such as picture naming, answering questions, or reading written words," explained a team led by University of Toronto psychologist Hsi T. Wei. Experts issue warning over rising threat that could leave thousands of Americans stranded: 'It will be a dynamic that doesn't stop' "In natural speech, older adults also tend to produce more dysfluencies such as unfilled and filled pauses (e.g., "uh" and "um") in between speech and have a generally slower speech rate."In a 2024 piece for The Conversation, dementia researcher Claire Lancaster said that the study from Toronto "has opened exciting doors… showing that it's not just what we say but how fast we say it that can reveal cognitive changes. "Recently, some AI algorithms have even been able to predict an Alzheimer's diagnosis with an accuracy of 78.5 percent using speech patterns alone. Other studies have found that patients with more signs of amyloid plaque in their brain are 1.2 times more likely to show speech-related problems. The verbal fluency test can offer insights into which regions of the brain are affected by cognitive decline.(Motortion/Canva)Amyloid plaques are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. In 2024, researchers at Stanford University led a study that found longer pauses and slower speech rates were also associated with higher levels of tangled tau proteins, another hallmark of Alzheimer's.
There's a Critical Thing We Can All Do to Hold Alzheimer's Symptoms at Bay "This suggests that speech changes reflect development of Alzheimer's disease pathology even in the absence of overt cognitive impairment," the authors of the study concluded The groundwork is still being laid, but scientists are getting closer to decoding the nuances of human speech to figure out what our words are saying about our brains. The 2023 study was published in Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition

What Is The 2 Finger Test In Dementia?

 Most stroke survivors would fail this if they have a disability in one hand, so make sure you decline to take it. By declining it, you prove you don't have dementia.

I refused to allow my Mom at 95 to take a cognitive test, she only has an 8th grade education and thus would get labeled incorrectly.

Similar to Catch-22; The term "catch-22" comes from the 1961 novel by Joseph Heller, where it describes a situation in the military where a pilot could avoid flying combat missions by claiming insanity, but the very act of claiming insanity would prove his sanity and thus he would have to continue flying.

Other sources claim this is it since the video completely failed at telling us about it! 

The "2-finger test" for dementia, often called the Interlocking Finger Test, assesses coordination, memory, and motor skills by having someone replicate a specific finger gesture, like interlocking fingers or touching thumb to index finger repeatedly, to spot early signs of cognitive decline, though it's a screening tool, not a definitive diagnosis, revealing issues with processing, memory, or motor control often seen in dementia. Difficulty performing these simple tasks (slowness, hesitation, errors) can signal underlying neurological changes.

What Is The 2 Finger Test In Dementia?

Quick Dementia Screening Test Shows Promise for Primary Care

 You just might want to know the EXACT PARAMETERS of this test so you can practice passing it. Because even if the screening shows you will likely get dementia, there is NOTHING YOUR DOCTOR CAN DO TO PREVENT IT!

Quick Dementia Screening Test Shows Promise for Primary Care

SEATTLE — A novel, quick, and low-cost dementia screening test could significantly improve early detection of Alzheimer's disease in primary care settings, according to research presented at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting.

The test, called qBEANS — short for Quick Behavioral Exam to Advance Neuropsychological Screening — involves patients spooning raw kidney beans into small plastic cups in a specific sequence to assess motor learning, visuospatial memory, and executive function. It requires no technology or wearable sensors, making it accessible and easy to implement.

Previous research has shown qBEANS to be sensitive and specific to Alzheimer's disease pathology, as well as predictive of cognitive and functional decline, the researchers said.

However, the current version of the test takes around 7 minutes to administer, which is too long for use in primary care, according to study author Sydney Schaefer, PhD, associate professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.

“The purpose of this study was to identify the minimum number of trials needed for reliability relative to the original longer version,” said Schaefer.

The study involved 48 participants without dementia, 77% of whom were women, and an average age of 75.4 years.

The researchers found that the shortened version of the qBEANS test takes only about 3.85 minutes on average — nearly 48% faster than the original version — while still maintaining high reliability (intraclass correlation of 0.85).

With its brevity and simplicity, the test could be easily administered by medical assistants during patient check-in, potentially increasing early dementia detection rates in primary care, said Schaefer.

While the shortened qBEANS test shows promise, further research is needed to assess its acceptability in primary care settings.

“The findings also warrant further development of the BEAN as a direct-to-consumer product, given its low cost and ease of administration,” said Schaefer.

However, Carla Perissinotto, MD, MHS, professor in the Division of Geriatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, cautioned that direct-to-consumer plans “could lead to participants not knowing what to do with the results out of context and without clinical input.”

“I'm not sure that we need to have a new evaluation tool, but instead, greater adoption of known and existing tools,” said Perissinotto, who was not involved in the study.

According to Perissinotto, existing cognitive screening tools Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) are more commonly used to evaluate cognition and are also relatively quick to administer.

“If [qBEANS] is not benchmarked to other standard tools like the MMSE or MoCA, clinicians may have trouble interpreting results,” said Perissinotto.

Study co-authors Schaefer and Jill Love are co-founders and managing members of Neurosessments LLC, which developed the qBEANS test.

One-Minute Speech Test Could Help Assess Dementia Risk

 With your already higher risk of dementia/MCI post stroke, is your doctor testing for this to create a baseline for you? And what EXACTLY is your doctor's protocol for preventing dementia? Doesn't have one! You don't have a functioning stroke doctor! Why are you seeing them if they are that incompetent?

Your risk of dementia, has your doctor told you of this?

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.`    

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

4. Dementia Risk Doubled in Patients Following Stroke September 2018

The latest here:

One-Minute Speech Test Could Help Assess Dementia Risk

BUDAPEST — Analyzing temporal changes in people's speech could be a simple way of detecting mild cognitive impairment to see whether there is a risk of developing dementia in the future, suggests research.

János Kálmán, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Szeged in Hungary have developed an automated speech analysis approach called the Speech-Gap Test (S-GAP Test) that is unique because it focuses on the temporal changes made when someone talks. This means it does not overcomplicate matters by also assessing the phonetics and semantics of speech, Kálmán told Medscape Medical News. 

Kálmán presented his findings at the 32nd European Congress of Psychiatry. 

Temporal Speech Parameters

The test analyzes parameters such as how quickly someone speaks, whether they hesitate when they talk, how long the hesitation lasts, and how many silent pauses they make. This can be done with a mere 60-second sample of speech, Kálmán said, noting that other automated speech and language tools currently in development need much longer audio samples. 

"We tried different approaches and we finally ended up with the temporal speech parameters because these are not culture-dependent, not education-dependent, and could be more reliable than the semantic parts of [speech] analysis," he explained.

The analysis of temporal speech parameters is also not language-dependent. Although the S-GAP Test was developed using audio samples from native Hungarian speakers, Kálmán and his collaborators have shown that it works just as well with samples from native English and German speakers. They now plan to validate the test further using samples from native Spanish speakers. 

For Screening, Not Diagnosis

Currently, "the only purpose of this tool would be initial screening," Kálmán said at the congress. It is not for diagnosis, and there is no intention to get it registered as a medical device. 

A national survey of primary care physicians conducted by Kálmán and collaborators showed that there was little time for performing standard cognitive tests during the average consultation. Thus, the original idea was that the S-GAP Test would be an aid to help primary care physicians quickly flag whether a patient might have cognitive problems that needed further assessment at a memory clinic or by more specialist neurology services. 

The goalposts have since been moved, from developing a pure telemedicine solution to a more widespread application that perhaps anyone could buy and download from the internet or using a smartphone. 

Kálmán doesn't discount developing a more sophisticated version of the S-GAP Test in the future that combines temporal speech parameters with biomarkers for mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease and could be used in memory clinics and by neurologists for the purpose of diagnosis.

Detect to Prevent?

The big question is: What happens to all the people that could be flagged as needing further assessment using tools such as the S-GAP Test? 

Tackling risk factors for dementia will probably be key, said Robert Perneckzy, MD, MBA, professor of translational dementia research at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Imperial College London, and the University of Sheffield.

According to the Lancet Commission on dementia, there are 12 potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia. Their influence varies throughout the life course, but certain early events, such as the level of education attained, can't be modified in an older patient. 

That said, there are many risk factors that might still be influenced later in life, such as adequately treating comorbid conditions such as diabetes, and addressing alcohol consumption and smoking practices. 

"We can do things in terms of personal risk, risk mitigation, which have a huge effect on dementia risk much later in life," said Perneckzy.

"The speech-based assessments are another opportunity to save our time as doctors to do assessments before someone comes to the memory clinic," he said.

The S-GAP Test is under development by the University of Szeged. Kálmán is a co-inventor. Perneckzy had no relevant conflicts of interest but has helped validate the S-GAP Test in the German language. 

Sara Freeman is a freelance medical journalist based in London, England.

One word test for dementia

 Have at it.  You might want to practice this before seeing your doctor

The “WORLD” test. The first test is to ask a patient to spell the word “world” forward and backward and then list the letters in “world” in alphabetical order. This test is scored as wholly correct or incorrect and has been found to have a sensitivity of 85 percent and a specificity of 88 percent for AD.¹¹ Leopold and Borson assert that that when a highly educated patient fails this test, a strong suggestion of impaired cognition is made and more formal testing should be carried out.¹¹.

11. Leopold NA, Borson AJ. An alphabetical “world:” A new version of an old test. Neurology. 1997;49:1521–4. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Hearing loss as a risk factor for dementia: A systematic review

Is your doctor proactively testing your hearing? Or is s/he just doing the status quo of nothing? You have a good chance of getting dementia, hopefully your doctor has protocols to prevent that. 

Your risk of dementia, has your doctor told you of this?

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.`    

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

4. Dementia Risk Doubled in Patients Following Stroke September 2018 

The latest here:

Hearing loss as a risk factor for dementia: A systematic review

Rhett S. Thomson, BA, ^{1 , 2} Priscilla Auduong, MD, ^{1 , 2} Alexander T. Miller, BS, ^{1 , 2} and Richard K. Gurgel, MD ^{1 , 2}

Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

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Abstract

Objectives

To review evidence of hearing loss as a risk factor for dementia.

Data Sources: PubMed

Review methods: A systematic review was conducted using the PubMed database using the search terms (hearing loss OR presbycusis) AND (dementia OR cognitive decline). Initially, 488 articles were obtained. Only those studies evaluating an association between hearing loss and incident dementia or cognitive decline were included in the analysis. This resulted in 17 articles which were thoroughly evaluated with consideration for study design, method for determining hearing loss and cognitive status, relevant covariates and confounding factors, and key findings.

Results

All of the 17 articles meeting inclusion criteria indicate that hearing loss is associated with dementia or cognitive decline. The methods used among the studies for ascertaining hearing loss and dementia were notably varied. For hearing loss, peripheral auditory function was tested far more than central auditory function. For peripheral audition, pure tone audiometry was the most commonly reported method for defining hearing loss. Only a few studies measured central auditory function by using the Synthetic Sentence Identification with Ipsilateral Competing Message test (SSI‐ICM) and the Staggered Spondaic Word Test (SSW). Dementia was most often defined using the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE). However, many studies used extensive batteries of tests to define cognitive status, often including a neuropsychologist. Confounding variables such as cardiovascular risk factors were measured in 17 studies and family history of dementia was only evaluated in 1 study. Overall, the methods used by studies to ascertain hearing loss, cognitive status and other variables are valid, making their evaluation appear reliable.

Conclusion

While each of the studies included in this study utilized slightly different methods for evaluating participants, each of them demonstrated that hearing loss is associated with higher incidence of dementia in older adults.

Level of Evidence

Level V, systematic review.

Keywords: agre‐related hearing loss, dementia, cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease, presbycusis

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INTRODUCTION

Dementia and hearing loss are both highly prevalent neurologic conditions in older adults, each having considerable impact on quality of life.¹, ² A growing body of literature suggests that these two conditions are interrelated and that hearing loss may be a risk factor for the development of dementia in older adults.³, ⁴ Though several epidemiological studies have demonstrated this association, the causal link of how hearing loss increases the risk of developing dementia is not well understood.

Several possible means have been identified. One line of thought is based on the impact of hearing loss on cortical processing. Hearing loss increases the cognitive load, diverting cognitive resources to auditory processing at the expense of other cognitive processes such as working memory.⁵, ⁶ Another hypothesis is that hearing loss leads to social isolation, which has been shown to contribute to dementia.⁷, ⁸ The third prominent explanation is that there is a common cause to both diseases and that hearing loss is the early manifestation of the underlying pathology.⁹, ¹⁰, ¹¹ It is also possible that these proposed mechanisms are not mutually exclusive, and decline in one pathway consequentially affects the others.

Better understanding the etiology behind the connection between hearing loss and dementia could help lead to interventions that preserve cognitive function in hearing loss patients. In this way, hearing loss could serve as a potential modifiable risk factor. It is suggested that interventions delaying the onset of dementia by even one year would decrease the worldwide prevalence of dementia by 10%.¹² Thus, there is compelling motivation to pinpoint the role hearing loss has on cognitive decline. The object of this study is to further investigate this connection. This will be performed through a systematic review of epidemiological studies published on the topic. Each study will be evaluated with consideration to design, method for determining hearing loss and dementia, relevant covariates and confounding factors, key findings, and conclusion.

More at link.

 

Detecting dementia in the blood

 You'll want your doctors and stroke hospital to be closely following this so as soon as it is proven protocols are written and implemented in your hospital. If your hospital doesn't have a dedicated research analyst whose only job is to follow and implement research then you don't have a functioning stroke hospital.

Your risk of dementia, has your doctor told you of this?

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.`    

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

4. Dementia Risk Doubled in Patients Following Stroke September 2018 

The latest here:

Detecting dementia in the blood

If the suspicion of Alzheimer's disease creeps up, those affected must prepare themselves for lengthy and complex procedures until the case is clear. A team from Empa and the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen is now in the process of developing a blood test that will enable a reliable diagnosis using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The researchers have recently published their first results of a successful pilot study in the journal Science Advances.

A deep look into the molecular universe

In the beginning, physicist Peter Nirmalraj wanted to understand the molecular pathogenesis of Alzheimer's in order to enable new approaches in diagnostics and therapy. One step further would be to decipher the exact role of beta-amyloid peptides and tau proteins associated with the neurodegenerative disease. Nirmalraj therefore set out not only to detect the mere presence of the suspicious proteins, but also to determine their variable shape and form as well as their amounts.

Current methods allow the determination of the total amount of both proteins in body fluids. However, these techniques do not allow the visualization of differences in the shape and condition of protein accumulations. The researcher is therefore working on technologies that allow nanometer-scale observations in blood and yet do not destroy the structure and morphology of the proteins.

Together with neurologists at the Cantonal Hospital in St. Gallen, Nirmalraj has now successfully completed an initial study. For their pilot study, he examined blood samples from 50 patients and 16 healthy subjects. Using AFM technology, the Empa researcher analyzed the surface of around 1000 red blood cells per person without knowing anything about their state of health. "This was the only way to make sure the interpretation of the data remained objective," says Nirmalraj.

Protein fibers as an indicator

The Empa researcher measured the size, structure and texture of protein accumulations found on the blood cells. After thousands of red blood cells, the team eagerly awaited the comparison of the results from Nirmalraj's counts with the clinical data from the neurologists. And indeed, the researchers were able to discern a pattern that matched the patients' disease stage: People who had Alzheimer's disease had large amounts of protein fibers made up of beta-amyloid peptides and tau proteins. The proteins were able to assemble into fibers several hundred nanometers long. In healthy individuals or those with incipient brain disorders, however, Nirmalraj counted only few fibers.

This proves the feasibility of blood analysis using AFM technology, the Empa researcher says: "If a reliable blood test can be developed based on this method, people with suspected Alzheimer's would be spared the unpleasant puncture of the spinal canal in order to be able to diagnose the disease reliably."

However, there is still a long way to go before a simple blood test is available in hospitals. The team's next step is to corroborate the data by studying a larger number of subjects at different stages of the disease using AFM and chemical analysis.

To read more, click here