Falls may signal early Alzheimer's

Researchers have found that people whose brains show early signs of Alzheimer's are twice as likely to fall as healthy people, according to Reuters reports Monday. The research findings were presented on Sunday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Paris. The new study involved 125 older adults, who took brain scans and contributed samples of their spinal fluid, and were also asked to keep a journal of how many times they fell during an eight-month period. Participants whose scans showed early signs of Alzheimer's reported an increased risk of falls. "To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify a risk of increased falls related to a diagnosis of preclinical Alzheimer's disease," said the study author Susan Stark, who is also an assistant professor of occupational therapy and neurology at Washington University in St. Louis. "It suggests that higher rates of falls can occur very early in the disease process," Stark added, according to Health Day reports. The researchers also noted that people with the disease were at higher risks for falls because Alzheimer's was linked to balance and gait disorders, as well as to the problems with visual and spatial perception.