Title:
A Key Detail in Your Retina Could Indicate How Healthy Your Brain Is
Published:
Science Alert, 15 February 2022
From the article:
Alzheimer's is an insidious brain disease marked by a slow mental decline that can develop unnoticed for decades before symptoms arise, but hidden signs of the condition might exist much sooner. New research suggests that the thinning of a person's retina – the light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye – in middle age is linked to cognitive performance in their early and adult life.
ALSO SEE
Title:
Associations Between Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer and Ganglion Cell Layer in Middle Age and Cognition From Childhood to Adulthood
Authors:
Ashleigh Barrett-Young, Antony Ambler, Kirsten Cheyne [et al]
Published:
JAMA Ophthalmology, 10 February 2022
Abstract:
Importance: The retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell layer (GCL) have been proposed as potential biomarkers for Alzheimer disease (AD). Although a number of studies have shown that knowing the thickness of RNFL and GCL can help differentiate between patients with AD and healthy controls, it is unclear whether these associations are observable earlier in life.
Objective: To examine whether RNFL and GCL thickness was associated with global cognitive performance in middle age and in childhood and with a decline in cognitive performance from childhood to adulthood and whether RNFL and GCL thickness was associated with decline in specific cognitive domains over the same period.