A blood test can determine with over 90% accuracy whether memory loss is caused by Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study. study It was released on Sunday.
A group of researchers from Lund University in Sweden has found that a cutting-edge blood test significantly outperforms diagnoses made by both general practitioners and specialists.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the p-tau217 blood test can determine whether memory loss is due to Alzheimer’s disease about 91 percent of the time, but specialists were only 73 percent accurate and primary care physicians were only 61 percent accurate.
While there are gold standard methods for detecting Alzheimer’s, current methods are expensive, difficult to access and often have long wait times. The researchers hope that this new method will streamline Alzheimer’s diagnosis and speed up treatment.
“Importantly, accurate, biomarker-validated Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis may have a positive impact on clinical care, even in places where access to these new therapies is limited. “And precognitive,” the study states.
The p-tau217 test measures the levels of a specific blood peptide known to be a marker of neuronal damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease. By determining the specific levels, doctors can determine whether cognitive decline is due to Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia.
Tau protein tangles track the accumulation of amyloid in the brain and are a key sign of Alzheimer’s disease, which can be present decades before serious memory loss begins and are the target of some of the latest drugs to fight the disease.
The researchers administered the blood tests to nearly 1,200 people, with an average age of 74, who were being evaluated for possible Alzheimer’s disease, and compared the results with doctor’s diagnoses and spinal tap tests, which have perfect accuracy.
Although the blood tests are highly accurate, they are not definitive, but the researchers hope that the method will reduce the burden on specialists and make treatment more accessible to those who need it.
A similar study of the p-tau217 blood test in January found a further 96 percent improvement in diagnostic accuracy.
by Mayo ClinicBrain imaging tests, such as MRI scans, CT scans, and PET images, are often used to diagnose patients with Alzheimer’s. The Mayo Clinic notes that blood tests can also detect amyloid and tau levels, but the tests “are not widely available and may have limited coverage.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Alzheimer’s disease The most common dementiaThe agency defines it as “a progressive illness that begins with mild memory loss and can result in loss of the ability to carry on a conversation or respond to one’s surroundings.”
In 2020, the CDC announced that up to 5.8 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease.
