New Alzheimer’s blood test

New Alzheimer’s blood test

Subject: Science and Tech

Sec: Health

Context:

Researchers have developed a new blood test to detect Alzheimer’s disease that helps diagnose the disease even at the early stage of mild cognitive impairment. Scientists at Lund University in Sweden have shown that PrecivityAD2, a new blood test, is about 90% accurate in identifying AD in people experiencing cognitive symptoms.

Practitioners excited about the test:

• According to statistics, one in five women and one in 10 men develop dementia due to AD (Alzheimer’s disease). Individuals with cognitive symptoms are first seen in primary care, with a minority being referred to secondary care.
• A blood test has been the Holy Grail for diagnosis of AD, since even current, modern methods of diagnosis involve very expensive and complex amyloid or Tau Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans.
• The other alternative is to draw cerebrospinal fluid via a painful procedure, lumbar puncture. 

What does the test do?

• The test works by measuring a combination of two ratios within a blood sample: plasma phosphorylated-tau217 (also called p-tau217) to not-phosphorylated-tau21 and two types of amyloid-beta: AB42 and AB40.
• In comparison to the blood test that had an accuracy of 91%, dementia specialists identified clinical Alzheimer disease with a diagnostic accuracy of 73%.
• In primary care, physicians had a diagnostic accuracy of 61%.
• This would be an accurate blood test for AD and that it could streamline the diagnostic workup and treatment of AD.
• The significance is that there are several drugs that work in the early stages of the disease, and an early, cost-effective, simple diagnosis will go a long way for patients.

Alzheimer’s Disease:

• It is a brain condition that causes a progressive decline in memory, thinking, learning, and organizing skills.
• It is the most common type of dementia, accounting for 60-80% of all dementia cases.
• It involves parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language.
• It can seriously affect a person’s ability to carry out daily activities.
• The condition usually affects people aged 65 years and over, with only 10% of cases occurring in people younger than this.
• Cause: The exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease is not fully understood, but it is believed to be influenced by a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors.
• Symptoms:
  • The early signs of the disease include forgetting recent events or conversations.
  • Over time, it progresses to serious memory problems and loss of the ability to perform everyday tasks.
• Treatment: There’s no cure for Alzheimer’s, but certain medications and therapies can help manage symptoms temporarily.

Dementia:

• Dementia is not a specific disease but is rather a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interferes with doing everyday activities.
• Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. However, there are several other types of dementia, each with its own underlying causes. Some of the common types of dementia include: Vascular Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia, and Mixed Dementia.
• Though dementia mostly affects older adults, it is not a part of normal aging.