Blood test can detect dementia symptoms 15 years before onset with 90% accuracy

The findings, reported in Nature Aging, suggest that a blood protein test can identify people at risk of developing dementia with nearly 90% accuracy, meaning the test can detect Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia at a very pre-symptomatic stage. Can apply.

Early identification of dementia risk will enable the use of drugs that slow or reverse the onset of the disease, which according to the World Health Organization (WHO) affects more than 55 million people worldwide and is expected to affect the development of dementia by 2030. It is expected to reach 78 million by 2017. The global health body also estimates that about 10 million new cases are expected each year.

Researchers examined blood samples from 52,645 healthy adults in Britain. They collected blood samples from the UK Biobank, which contains a biomedical database of more than half a million Britons, and analyzed samples collected between 2006 and 2010. Scientists found 11 proteins in 1,417 people who developed dementia over a 14-year period.

The researchers also found increased levels of four proteins – GFAP, NEFL, GDF15 and LTBP2 – in the blood of 1,417 people who later developed dementia.

Professor Jianfeng Feng, co-author of the study and a computational biologist at the University of Warwick and Fudan University in China, said people are often diagnosed only when they notice memory problems or other symptoms. At that time, the disease may have been progressing for years. “Once we diagnose it, it’s almost too late…and it’s impossible to reverse.”

The study also reported that people who had high levels of GFAP in their blood were twice as likely to develop dementia as those with normal levels, and almost three times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s.

It is important to note that dementia, the seventh leading cause of death worldwide, is a syndrome that can be caused by a number of diseases that destroy nerve cells and damage the brain over time, usually leading to Cognitive function declines (ie. The ability to process thought beyond what might be expected from the normal results of biological aging). It has physical, psychological, social and economic impacts not only on people with dementia but also on their carers, families and society.

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Published: February 15, 2024, 08:14 PM IST