Studies in Neurology suggest that poor performance on a simple memory test may be linked to the presence of biomarkers in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease as well as to early signs of memory loss that occur several years before dementia.

Using this test could help us detect cognitive decline in people before they are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease,” study author Ellen Grober, Ph.D., of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, said.

We can use this information to select participants for clinical trials aimed at slowing the progression of cognitive decline. Additionally, rather than costly or invasive scans or lumbar punctures, a simple test could help narrow down those who already show signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain.”

For example, a picture of grapes with the category cue “fruit” might be shown to participants as part of the test. Afterwards, the participants are asked to recall the items, first on their own, then with the category cues for any items they did not remember recalling earlier. People with mild memory problems benefit from this type of controlled learning, but Grober says it has little effect on people with dementia.

The average age of the 4,484 participants in the study was 71 years old. Stages zero through four of the test were used to divide the participants into five groups. The first five to eight years of a person’s life are marked by an increasing inability to recall previously learned information or memories, and these are the stages zero through two.

In these stages, people find it increasingly difficult to remember the items on their own, but they are still able to remember them when given specific cues. Cues aren’t enough to jog their memory in the third and fourth stages of memory loss. One to three years precedes the onset of dementia during this stage of the disease process.

They also had scans to look for the Alzheimer’s disease markers, such as beta-amyloid plaques in the brain and the brain volume in areas associated with Alzheimer’s pathology.

No one in the study had any memory problems. Retrieval or memory storage issues affected half of those surveyed.

A higher concentration of beta-amyloid was discovered in the brains of those who tested at stage three or four, according to the study’s findings. In addition, the hippocampus and other regions of the brain linked to Alzheimer’s pathology were smaller in volume in these individuals.

As the disease progressed, the percentage of people with beta-amyloid plaques rose from 30 percent to 31 percent, 35 percent to 40 percent, and 44 percent to 44 percent..

It’s possible to tell the difference between memory loss that occurs early on in the predementia stage, when people are still able to create and store memories in their brains, and memory loss that occurs later on, when dementia has already been diagnosed, according to Grober.

However, because the research participants all had advanced degrees, its findings may not be applicable to the general public.