Agatha Christie 'had Alzheimer's disease when she wrote final novels'
Agatha Christie could have been suffering from Alzheimer's when she wrote her last novels, scientists believe.


English writer Agatha Christie, in her home, Greenway House, in Devonshire

The creator of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot could even have left hints of her declining memory in her novels, still popular 33 years after her death.

Scientists in Canada who performed an in-depth study of the author's use of language found that it declined markedly by the time she was in her Eighties, when she was still writing.

Towards the end of her life her vocabulary had shrunk by between 15 and 30 per cent and she began to repeat greater numbers of phrases in her books, according to the study.

Her use of indefinite words, such as something or someone, also increased significantly, another early warning sign of dementia.

The study, by a computer scientist, Dr Ian Lancashire, and a literary scholar, Dr Graeme Hirst, both from the University of Toronto, analysed the first 50,000 words of 16 of her novels, written between the ages of 28 and 82.

The findings show that Elephants Can Remember, written when she was 81, has almost 18 per cent more repeated phrases than Destination Unknown, which she wrote at the age of 63.

Although never diagnosed with dementia, the researchers believe that Agatha Christie was aware of her declining memory and defensiveness over her condition led her to alter the popular proverb "elephants never forget" for the title.

They claim that signs of possible Alzheimer's disease can be seen in her work from her early 70s onwards.

To be sure they now plan to compare their findings to a similar study of the novels of HG Wells, who also wrote into old age, but who they believe did not develop dementia.

Although memory loss and a shrinking vocabulary often come with aging both are markedly increased in patients starting to suffer from Alzheimer's disease.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "This study adds to an intriguing trend in textual analysis of prolific public figures who may have had dementia.

"Last year, researchers analysing Harold Wilson's speeches found the former Prime Minister demonstrated very early signs of Alzheimer's while in office.

"Iris Murdoch's deterioration has also been widely documented.

"Even people who lead intellectually stimulating lives, like Agatha Christie and Margaret Thatcher, can develop dementia.

"Further research in this area may help improve efforts to accurately spot the early signs of dementia in the wider population; in most cases dementia remains undiagnosed."

Around 700,000 people in Britain suffer from dementia, of which Alzheimer's is the most common form.

Last year, Sir Terry Pratchett, the best-selling fantasy author announced that he was battling the disease and donated £1 million to research for treatments for the condition.



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