A recently conducted study has revealed that loneliness can have a major impact on brain and can make one get older and dramatically increases the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease.

SLU Care psychiatrist Dr. George Grossberg, who found this major risk factor, said in a statement that the subjective risk of feeling of loneliness dramatically increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease, almost twice the risk in people who have it.

Study authors noted that loneliness can accelerate the rate of memory and cognitive decline, which can obviously lead to Alzheimer's disease.

Grossburg stated that older adults are highly advised to remain socially active and also exercise daily and stay mentally challenged. Another study finds that saliva can be a key tool in the early detection of the disease.

In another study researchers also found that women who develop slight but detectable deficits in memory and mental acuity late in life tend to decline faster than men with mild impairment.

The authors of the new study, who presented their work at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Washington, said their findings do not give any possible causes for gender differences and have no immediate implications for treatment.

But some earlier conducted studies had found a steeper decline in women with mild deficits over a period of about a year.

Researchers during the study analyzed scores on standard cognitive tests taken by 398 men and women, most in their 70s. The study participants have been taking the cognitive tests and other tests like PET scans on average for four years and as long as eight years.

Researchers found women's scores dropped by an average of about two points a year, compared with one point for men.