Weight loss may foreshadow Alzheimer's in women

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women destined to develop Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia may start losing weight at least a decade before being diagnosed with such a condition, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Women who developed dementia began losing weight between 11 and 20 years before their diagnosis, and the weight loss accelerated in the decade before diagnosis, researchers led by Dr. David Knopman of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota found.

These women, at the time of their eventual diagnosis, weighed 12 pounds (5.4 kg) less on average than those who did not develop Alzheimer's or another dementia, they reported.

Knopman's team examined medical records, including detailed weight information, for 219 women who eventually were diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another type of dementia.

They tracked the same number of women who did not develop any form of dementia. They were of similar age and lived in the same place, Rochester.

The study also tracked men from the same city who developed dementia and men who did not, seeing no differences in weight.

Dementia is a brain disorder that undermines one's ability to perform daily activities. The most common form among the elderly is Alzheimer's, a slow disease that begins with mild memory problems and ends with severe brain damage.

LONG TIME DEVELOPING