New Blood Test for Alzheimer's Disease Could Devastate Older Adults

A new blood test for Alzheimer's disease could devastate old people who are at a higher risk of developing the disease, a health expert said.

Professor Mike Jackson at the Birmingham City University said that a blood test for the memory-robbing disease could lead to significant distress in sufferers.

"Since there is as yet no cure for Alzheimer's, learning later that you have the disease is preferable to finding out early. The test needs to be backed up by work on drugs which may halt the progress of the disease," said Professor Mike Jackson in response to a BBC news report on Alzheimer's disease.

According to the BBC story, British scientists are a step closer to developing a novel kind of blood test that predicts the onset of the disease.

The study, published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, was based on data from three studies.

A total of 1,148 blood samples were used, of which 476 belonged to people with Alzheimer's disease and 220 in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Four hundred and fifty two older people without dementia also participated in the study.

Researchers analyzed the blood to look for 26 proteins that are associated with Alzheimer's disease. The team found that 16 of the 26 proteins were strongly associated with brain shrinkage in either MCI or Alzheimer's disease, according to a news release.

In the next part of the study, researchers ran a second test to see which of the 16 proteins could predict the onset of AD. They found that at least 10 proteins could predict whether or not people would progress from MCI to full-blown AD. The test has an accuracy of 87 percent.

"As the onset of Alzheimer's is often slow and subtle, a blood test to identify those at high risk of the disease at an early stage would be of real value. Detecting the first signs of Alzheimer's could improve clinical trials for new treatments and help those already concerned about their memory, but we're not currently in a position to use such a test to screen the general population," said Dr Eric Karran, Director of Research at Alzheimer's Research U.K.