Suspected dementia, the eye and the ‘mind’s eye’: How primary care eye specialists could support early identification of Alzheimer’s Disease and its variants

Abstract

The current article outlines the nature of visuoperceptual deficits in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and its ‘atypical’ variants. Evidence to highlight that visual and visuoperceptual difficulties are common in dementias driven by Alzheimer’s-based pathology will be discussed. Following this, the ways in which early identification of visual and lower-level visuoperceptual symptoms of dementia may be facilitated within primary care optical health settings will be considered. It is hoped that this may inspire work to support opticians and optometrists to identify where timely signposting to dementia services may be beneficial for people with suspected dementia who are experiencing visuoperceptual deficits. This is particularly important given that visual and visuoperceptual deficits can be early signs of dementia and often have a significant impact on activities of daily living (e.g. dressing, increased falls risk, accidents whilst driving, difficulties navigating familiar environments; Tippett et al., 2019). An illustrative case example is provided, outlining how timely detection of suspected dementia could have enabled early provision of appropriate treatment and support to enhance quality of life (e.g. medication for symptom management, provision of cognitive strategies and functional aids; Armstrong & Kergoat, 2015).