Learning the status of their amyloid beta protein buildup—a defining feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)—does not have negative psychological effects on individuals, but it does reduce their motivation to make lifestyle changes, according to a study issued this week in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
Amyloid buildup can be detected years or even decades before AD symptom onset, wrote Sapir Golan Shekhtman, Ph.D., of the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, and colleagues. While a non-elevated amyloid beta status can rule out a current AD diagnosis, it cannot foresee future AD. The possibility that patients will make inaccurate assumptions about their future risk is why testing and disclosing amyloid beta status is not recommended in asymptomatic individuals, the authors continued. But as progress is made toward developing preventive therapies, asymptomatic patients are more likely to be screened to determine if they would benefit from treatment.
Shekhtman and colleagues provided questionnaires to 199 cognitively normal adults (median age 65) immediately before they received PET scans to determine their amyloid beta status. The participants were asked to rate their levels of depression and anxiety regarding the possibility of elevated amyloid beta on a five-point scale, as well as their motivation to make lifestyle changes to reduce their future risk of developing AD. Six months after their amyloid beta status was disclosed, participants were again asked to rate their level of depression and anxiety regarding their results, as well as their motivation to make lifestyle changes.
A large majority of the 178 participants whose PET scans revealed they did not have an elevated amyloid beta status reported a decrease in their anxiety and/or depression scores between their first and second questionnaires. Meanwhile, among the 21 participants with an elevated status, there was no significant change in average depression and anxiety scores. More than 80% of participants in both groups reported high or very high motivation to change their lifestyles before their PET scans. After they were informed of their amyloid beta status, 112 participants (63%) in the non-elevated group and 11 individuals (52%) in the elevated group reported lower motivation to change their lifestyles.
While decreased motivation to make lifestyle changes may be understandable in the non-elevated group, the authors wrote, it is undesirable in both groups, as “keeping a healthy, active lifestyle is one of the current key recommendations for the prevention of AD.” They concluded that this finding “warns against false reassurance during the disclosure process.”
For related information, see the Psychiatric News article “Blood Test Accurately Detects Alzheimer’s Disease.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/gorodenkoff)
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