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A Finnish case-control study found that people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before age 65 had more of several health conditions, particularly in the five years before diagnosis, and used healthcare services more often. High blood pressure and high cholesterol were not more common than among matched controls; the findings describe patterns, not a way to predict the disease in an individual.
A Finnish study found that people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease before age 65 had a growing range of health conditions and more healthcare encounters in the years before diagnosis, especially during the final five years. The case-control findings, based on records for 407 patients and more than 4,000 matched controls, also found that high blood pressure and high cholesterol were not more common in the patient group.
Researchers from the University of Oulu and the University of Eastern Finland examined health conditions recorded during the 15 years before an Alzheimer’s diagnosis among people who developed the disease before age 65. They compared those records with data for age- and sex-matched people without a neurodegenerative disease. The study drew on memory-clinic patients at Oulu University Hospital and Kuopio University Hospital, alongside nationwide health-register data.
Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have records of depression, dizziness, headaches, traumatic brain injuries, epilepsy and cerebrovascular disorders, as well as thyroid diseases and problems linked to heavy alcohol use. Tinnitus and hearing loss were already more common six to 10 years before diagnosis. The researchers reported no significant differences in morbidity 11 to 15 years before diagnosis, suggesting that the group-level differences they measured appeared closer to the diagnosis date.
Healthcare use also rose as diagnosis approached, alongside the accumulation of conditions. The steepest increase in visits occurred in the final year before diagnosis. These results describe patterns in records across groups; they do not establish that any particular symptom caused Alzheimer’s disease or can identify it on its own.
Patterns Before Working-Age Diagnosis
The study matters because early-onset Alzheimer’s can be difficult to recognize in working-age adults, and diagnosis may come years after symptoms begin. A patient’s health history can involve many apparently unrelated issues, and increased contact with healthcare services may form part of the picture as difficulties develop. The researchers suggest that awareness of such patterns could help clinicians consider neurodegenerative disease earlier when appropriate.
However, the findings are not a screening rule. Depression, dizziness, hearing loss and the other conditions reported are common and have many possible explanations. The study does not show that they predict Alzheimer’s in an individual, nor does it establish that earlier recognition based on these associations improves outcomes. Clinical evaluation remains necessary for people with concerns about cognitive or other health changes.
The absence of a higher rate of hypertension and hyperlipidemia in the early-onset group also sets the results apart from familiar cardiovascular risk associations discussed in Alzheimer’s research, particularly for late-onset disease. It raises a research question about whether early- and late-onset Alzheimer’s have partly different patterns, but this study does not identify the mechanisms behind the observed differences.
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How Researchers Tracked Health Records
Early-onset Alzheimer’s refers here to disease diagnosed before age 65. The researchers used a population-based case-control approach: they identified 407 people with early-onset Alzheimer’s and compared their registered health conditions and healthcare use with those of more than 4,000 people matched by age and sex. The analysis covered the 15 years preceding diagnosis, allowing the team to compare periods at different distances from that date.
The work, titled “Comorbidities and health-care use prior to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease: A population-based case-control study,” was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia in 2026. The report identifies the University of Oulu and the University of Eastern Finland as the study institutions and names doctoral researcher Laura Leppänen as first author and Adjunct Professor Johanna Krüger as lead investigator.
The study’s design can show that health conditions and service use were more frequent in one group than another before diagnosis. It cannot, by itself, establish why those differences arose or whether they reflect early disease effects, other health factors, differences in seeking care, or a combination of influences.
“No single disease or symptom predicts Alzheimer’s disease.”
— Laura Leppänen, study first author and doctoral researcher at the University of Oulu
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Limits of the Pre-Diagnosis Signals
The study does not establish that the reported conditions are early symptoms of Alzheimer’s, that they cause the disease, or that they can predict who will receive a diagnosis. The source report does not provide absolute rates for each condition, effect sizes, or a validated threshold clinicians could use to distinguish Alzheimer’s from other causes. It also does not explain whether increased healthcare use arose from emerging cognitive symptoms, other illnesses, or both.
The reported lack of significant morbidity differences 11 to 15 years before diagnosis does not prove that no changes occur in that period; it describes what this analysis detected in the records. The findings are based on Finnish patients and registers, and the available report does not establish whether the same patterns would appear in other countries or populations. The study also does not compare early detection strategies or report whether earlier diagnosis changed patient outcomes.
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Further Research and Clinical Recognition
The study authors argue that early-onset dementia and Alzheimer’s should be recognized sooner among working-age adults. The next research step is to test whether the patterns hold in other patient groups and health systems, and whether combining health-history information with cognitive assessment can support earlier clinical evaluation. Such work would need to establish how specific the patterns are and whether they add useful information beyond standard assessment.
For now, the report supports attention to a person’s overall health history rather than reliance on a single condition or a tally of visits. The study does not announce a new diagnostic test or change to clinical guidance. Anyone concerned about memory, thinking or other changes should discuss them with a qualified healthcare professional, who can assess possible causes.
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Key Questions
What did the study find before early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis?
In Finnish health records, several conditions and healthcare use were more common among people diagnosed before 65 than among matched controls, particularly in the five years before diagnosis. The study also found that tinnitus and hearing loss were more common six to 10 years beforehand.
Do these symptoms mean someone has Alzheimer’s?
No. The study says that no single condition or symptom predicts Alzheimer’s. The reported conditions can have many causes, and the findings describe differences between groups rather than an individual diagnostic test.
Were cardiovascular risk factors more common in the early-onset group?
No. The researchers reported that high blood pressure and high cholesterol were not more common among people diagnosed before age 65 than among the matched controls. The study does not explain why this differed from familiar risk patterns associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s.
How many people were included?
The study included 407 people with early-onset Alzheimer’s and compared their records with those of more than 4,000 age- and sex-matched controls.
Does the research offer a new way to diagnose Alzheimer’s?
No. The report describes health-record patterns before diagnosis but does not provide a validated screening method, diagnostic threshold or new clinical guideline. A healthcare professional must assess concerns about cognitive changes.
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