Crow's feet could be early sign of dementia as research suggests people with more wrinkles on their face are 2.5 times more likely to show cognitive decline

Are those crow’s feet starting to get deeper?

Not only might you be starting to show your age, but too many of them 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 have symptoms of cognitive decline.

The researchers, writing in the journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy said: ‘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 high risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.’

During a two-part study, academics at China’s Fudan University analysed data on 200,000 men and women. 

In part one, those with an average age of 64 – who had been asked if people told them they looked facially younger or older, or their right age – were tracked for 12 years.

In that time, there were around 6,000 cases of dementia in the group, with those seen as looking 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 and 74 per cent more likely to have unspecified types of dementia.

Part two saw researchers take photographs of 612 men and women with an average age of 63, which were then analysed by computer for age indicators. 

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

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

Researchers said previous animal studies suggested that skin ageing induced by ultraviolet could affect the neuro-immune system, which helps protects brain cells.