Crow’s feet may be an early sign of dementia, as research shows that people with more wrinkles on their face are 2.5 times more likely to experience cognitive decline

Are those crow’s feet starting to deepen?

Not only could your age show, but too much of it could be an early sign of dementia, according to academics.

Boffins also reported that people who think they look older than their actual age are more likely to experience symptoms of cognitive decline.

The researchers write in the journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy: ‘Facial aging, both subjective and objective, may be an indicator of cognitive decline and dementia risk in older adults.

‘We found that high perceived facial age was associated with a high risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.’

In a two-part study, academics from China’s Fudan University analyzed data on 200,000 men and women.

In part one, those with an average age of 64 – who were asked whether people told them they looked younger or older at first glance, or what the right age was – were followed for 12 years.

At the time there were around 6,000 cases of dementia in the group, with those who looked older than their age being 61 per cent more likely to have developed the condition, 23 per cent more likely to have developed Alzheimer’s disease and 74 percent more likely to have developed Alzheimer’s disease. likely to have unspecified forms of dementia.

In part two, researchers took photographs of 612 men and women with an average age of 63, which were then analyzed by computer for age indicators.

They found that facial wrinkles around the crow’s feet were linked to cognitive impairment, and that people with more of these wrinkles were 2.5 times more likely to have the impairment.

One theory is that too much sun can have adverse effects on both skin and cognitive health.

Researchers said previous animal studies suggested that skin aging caused by ultraviolet could affect the neuroimmune system, which helps protect brain cells.