Alzheimer's and Dementia - Our Biggest Fear as We Age

British scientists now using AI to predict if cognitive decline might be in your future

Ric:  The future is bright because we're all projecting we're going to be living to age 90 , 100, 110, 120... How exciting is that? Unless you're become fearful that your future health won't be all that much fun? And the biggest fear that all of us have about aging and health is Alzheimer's and dementia. Increasingly, we are encountering family members, chances are, you know, of someone who has Alzheimer's. It is a terrifying disease, and the question that we all have is, am I going to develop these symptoms? Well, right now, there's no diagnostic tool.

However, British scientists have now developed artificial intelligence (AI) that can predict whether you're going to develop dementia. They gave the AI data on 15,000 thousand people average age 72. The data included medical records, memory tests and family health history, and the computer named 1568 people who it said were going to get a dementia diagnosis within two years. Two years later, sure enough, 92% of those people got the diagnosis. This new technology could be revolutionary if it is proven to be as effective as that on a long term, broad scale basis. 

If this proves true, it could give doctors a basis for recommending lifestyle changes to you and identifying people who might benefit from support or in-depth assessments. Predictive tool step might be number one in our efforts to fight this dreaded disease of Alzheimer's.