A world-first ultra-widefield eye imaging study in adults with Down syndrome found that abnormal blood vessels in the retinal periphery are visible before clinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease begin to show.
Writing in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, researchers from Belfast’s Queen’s University and Ulster University noted the longer life expectancy of people with Down syndrome nowadays means Alzheimer’s disease has become the leading cause of death for this population.
People with Down syndrome have a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease at an early age due to their extra copy of chromosome 21, which can lead to an accelerated build-up of plaques in the brain. The plaques can cause problems with how brain cells function and increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s symptoms, they explained.
