Mayo Clinic researchers validate blood test to diagnose Alzheimer's disease in outpatient memory clinics

[douglas9]

Newswise — JACKSONVILLE, Florida — Alzheimer's disease, characterized by memory loss, problems with concentration and thinking, and changes in personality and behavior, has a major impact on the lives of patients, their families, and loved ones. With new treatments available for people with early signs of the disease, there is a growing need for accessible, low-cost tests to diagnose Alzheimer's earlier. In a new study, Mayo Clinic researchers confirmed the accuracy of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved blood test that can be used in outpatient memory clinics to diagnose the disease in patients with varying degrees of cognitive impairment. The findings are published in Alzheimer's and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

Traditional methods of measuring the accumulation of toxic proteins in the brain, which indicate Alzheimer's disease, include positron emission tomography (PET) and lumbar punctures. However, these tests can be expensive and invasive. More accessible, noninvasive, and low-cost biomarkers—measurable indicators of a disease—are needed to improve overall diagnostics in clinical settings.

“Our study found that the blood test confirms the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease with 95% sensitivity and 82% specificity,” says corresponding author Dr. Gregg Day, a neurologist specializing in dementia and a clinical researcher at the Mayo Clinic. “When performed in an outpatient setting, the test has similar accuracy to cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, with the advantage of being much more convenient and low cost."


https://ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/news/144#:~:text=%E2%80%9COur%20study%20found%20that%20the,researcher%20at%20the%20Mayo%20Clinic.

[Wonder Why]

1. Is it covered by Medicare? That's critical to us oldies.

[question everything]

2. The findings

Mayo Clinic laboratories analyzed two types of proteins in blood plasma associated with the accumulation of amyloid plaques, a central feature of Alzheimer's disease: Aβ42/40 and p-tau217. The researchers observed that p-tau217 levels were higher in patients with Alzheimer's compared to those without the disease. In addition, they found that higher concentrations of p-tau217 in plasma were also associated with impaired kidney function, a factor that, according to the researchers, should be taken into account when performing blood tests.

Plasma p-tau217 concentrations were positive in 267 of the 509 patients, including 233 of the 246 patients (95%) with cognitive impairment attributed to Alzheimer's disease.

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Note that the study did not concentrate on amyloid which was never found to be the cause