What's the early sign of dementia? - Healthbiztips

What's the early sign of dementia?

While dementia is incurable, catching it at it's early stage can buy a patient some time to start treatment that can  slow down the progression of the disease.

What's the early sign of dementia? - Healthbiztips
photo credit: @plushdesignstudio Plush Design Studio @unsplash

@healthbiztips by Arlene Gentallan


Failure to identify common scent is an early sign of dementia.

As we age, out sense of smell normally declines, but patients who are at the early stage of dementia experience a profound loss of the ability to smell even before the onset of cognitive impairment.

The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease marked by memory loss, language impairment. cognitive decline, and learning disability which worsens over time.

People who experience a profound decline in their sense of smell have been shown by various studies to have higher chance of developing dementia.

It's a recognized early sign of dementia proven by scientific studies. It's a valuable piece of information because a patient can already show sign of smell impairment several years up to decades before the onset of cognitive and memory decline.

Often, dementia is  diagnosed when it's already too late, when severe neurological damage has been done that results to a significant physical and mental retardation.

In itself, olfactory deterioration can reflect a covert serious neurological deterioration.

Doing a "smell test" is simple and inexpensive. However, even when a person's difficulty in detecting common scent can potentially point to dementia, it is not a definitive diagnostic tool so it is imperative not to "self-daignose", but  to consult a healthcare provider.