Latest research shows that older adults' susceptibility to financial fraud might be an early indicator of Alzheimer's disease

A region of the brain affected early in Alzheimer's disease may explain why some older persons are at higher risk of monetary exploitation. This is the central insight of our recent studypublished within the journal Cerebral Cortex.

We are one Doctoral student in clinical psychology And a clinical neuropsychologistand we’re concerned about understanding whether a better likelihood of being financially exploited – similar to becoming a victim of fraud – could also be a behavioral indicator of future cognitive decline.

Other research supports this concept. However, research on associations between vulnerability to financial exploitation and structural brain regions is restricted.

We examined the connection between vulnerability to financial exploitation and the thickness of a brain region called the entorhinal cortex affected by Alzheimer's disease very early – in a bunch of 97 adults aged 52 to 83 years without signs of cognitive impairment.

The entorhinal cortex is crucial for communication between the hippocampus, necessary for Retrieve memory and predict yourself into the longer termand the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is necessary for value judgments.

We subsequently hypothesized that thinning of this region might impair the flexibility to attract on past experiences when assessing the worth of certain decisions and to assume future consequences.

Our study found that lower entorhinal cortex thickness, as measured by brain scan, was related to higher financial vulnerability, as measured by a self-report questionnaire. We didn’t observe associations between vulnerability to financial exploitation and the thickness of two regions of the frontal cortex, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These frontal cortex regions are more related to decision makingbut less so in early Alzheimer's disease.

Why it matters

Our essential goal is to support early detection of Alzheimer's disease. Early detection is crucial due to brain changes related to Alzheimer's disease begin many years before significant clinical symptoms turn up. As a result, by the point Alzheimer's disease is diagnosed, an individual has often already suffered irreparable brain damage. This makes intervention and treatment efforts very difficult.

Our study adds a growing work This suggests that impaired financial decision-making may serve to accomplish that an early behavioral warning sign of future cognitive decline. This could help discover individuals within the early stages of the disease, when intervention and treatment efforts could also be simpler.

Importantly, nevertheless, research doesn’t suggest that every one older adults who experience financial exploitation will develop Alzheimer's. In fact, there are numerous other explanation why someone may be at increased risk of monetary exploitation, including: psychosocial, physically and environmental aspects.

Rather, research by our group and others suggests that they’re vulnerable to financial exploitation can function a crucial part a risk profile and will alert people to the possible need for further, more comprehensive testing. For example, blood tests for Alzheimer's disease neuropathology, brain scans, and neuropsychological testing could give people a deeper understanding of their risk for future cognitive decline.

What isn’t yet known

There are necessary limitations to our study. We collected all data at one cut-off date and didn’t have specific measurements of Alzheimer's disease neuropathology. It is subsequently unclear whether differences in thickness were actually the results of brain changes related to Alzheimer's disease or were simply attributable to pre-existing differences or other reasons.

Additionally, our participants were predominantly white, female, and well-educated. This limits our ability to generalize the outcomes, a niche that is very important to handle in future research.

Our laboratory is tracking participants over time and expanding our study to incorporate measurements of Alzheimer's disease pathology. This will help us understand whether changes in brain structure over time result in increased vulnerability to financial exploitation and whether these changes are linked to early Alzheimer's disease.