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New test has 90% accuracy for detecting early-stage dementia but is not yet approved
A new blood test has 90% accuracy for detecting early-stage dementia, but they aren’t yet arriving in your doctor’s office since they haven’t been FDA approved.
Research surrounding dementia is developing all the time; a neurological clinician says that learning an instrument may help slow the progression, of the condition, while a neuroscientist suggests two cups of Matcha a day could help prevent dementia. Now, new blood tests could help doctors diagnose�Alzheimers�disease�faster and more accurately, but it isn’t being rolled out yet.
Blood test has 90% accuracy for detecting early-stage dementia
Dementia is a general term for a range of progressive brain health conditions. Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is�a brain disorder that slowly reduces memory and thinking skills.
In most people with Alzheimer’s, symptoms first appear later in life. The telltale “biomarkers” are brain-clogging amyloid plaques and abnormal tau protein that leads to neuron-killing tangles (neurons are a type of cell that receives and sends messages from the body to the brain).
Knowing if memory problems are caused by Alzheimers requires confirming one of the hallmark signs (buildup of a sticky protein called beta-amyloid) using a hard-to-get brain scan or uncomfortable spinal tap, so many patients instead are currently diagnosed based on symptoms and cognitive exams.
A recent investigation, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researched blood biomarkers to detect Alzheimer’s disease in primary care and secondary care. Researchers reported that new blood tests could help doctors diagnose�faster and more accurately.
Findings concluded there was a high diagnostic accuracy (90%)�for identifying Alzheimers among individuals with cognitive symptoms using predefined cutoff values. An accurate blood test for dementia could streamline the diagnostic workup and treatment.
New tests have not been rolled out due to lack of approval
Only doctors can order these blood tests from labs. The Alzheimers Association is working on guidelines and several companies plan to seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
NBC explains that the FDA hasnt formally approved any of the tests yet and there is little insurance coverage.
The FDA is a federal agency that regulates the safety and effectiveness of food, drugs, and more, and approval of the new blood tests would clarify proper use.
Scientists are excited by the potential of the tests that can detect certain signs of Alzheimers in blood, but they are not yet widely used because there is little data to guide doctors about which kind to order and when.
