Your breathing pattern may hold clue to Alzheimer’s risk

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Measuring variations in the brain’s respiration patterns could help detect Alzheimer’s disease early, according to a new study that may lead to better diagnosis and treatment. Researchers examined how changes in the brain’s neurovascular unit, which consists of blood vessels connected to neurons via brain cells called astrocytes, affect the Alzheimer’s condition. “Alzheimer's can be hypothesised as being a result of the brain not being appropriately nourished via the blood vessels,” said biophysicist Aneta Stefanovska, a co-author of the study. Measurements of brain blood flow and electrical activity may predict Alzheimer's risk In the new study, published in the journal Brain Communications, researchers connected probes to the scalp to measure brain blood flow and electrical activity as well as an electrocardiogram and a belt wrapped around the chest to monitor heart rate and breathing.