Eye Conditions Provide New Lens Screening for Alzheimer’s Disease

Cognitive disorders are on the rise, and one of the problems with them is how difficult they can be to diagnose early. Alzheimer’s Disease doesn’t yet have an effective treatment, but doctors can help ease some early symptoms, or even help patients manage risk factors, if the condition can be detected at an early stage before it progresses and impacts the patient more severely.

Recent medical research has revealed a new way to diagnose Alzheimer’s. Checking a patient’s eyes. There are three diseases of the eye that are linked to Alzheimer’s Disease. Being able to diagnose these conditions will not only help physicians treat and manage the degenerative eye disorders, but also possibly alert doctors and patients both of the possibility of Alzheimer’s.

The research does not indicate there is an absolute link between diabetic retinoathy, glaucoma, or macular degeneration and a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. But the optical diseases are a risk factor for Alzheimer’s, and that’s the benefit this research has revealed. In the study, patients were tracked over a five year period. None had Alzheimer’s at the beginning of the study. Patients who developed one of the eye diseases were found to be about fifty percent more likely to also be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. The research may also help other scientists as they continue to investigate Alzheimer’s.

Key Points:

  • 1A new way to test for Alzheimer’s by examining the human eye.
  • 2Different eye conditions can be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease.
  • 3Certain eye conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, or glaucoma can mean a 50% greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s.


Alzheimer’s disease is difficult to diagnose as well as treat, but researchers now have a promising new screening tool using the window to the brain: the eye.
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Written by HealthStatus
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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