People with Alzheimer’s disease may breathe faster than those without it, research in Brain Communications suggests.

Researchers from Lancaster University and the University of Ljubljana found that participants with Alzheimer’s took about 17 breaths per minute, compared with 13 breaths per minute in healthy individuals.

This faster breathing was linked to poor coordination between brain activity and blood flow, which could reduce oxygen supply to the brain.

The study suggests that changes in breathing rate might be an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s as the brain struggles to regulate blood flow. Researchers hope this discovery could lead to new, non-invasive ways to detect and treat the disease.