Researchers make more progress in helping detect Alzheimer's

Biomarkers in the blood could help identify the onset of Alzheimer's before the disease takes hold

, according to new research carried out in America. According to a report by Bloomberg Businessweek, tests were carried out on 100 biomarkers found in the blood serum of 197 people suffering from Alzheimer's and a further 203 people who were not.

A total of 22 biomarkers were singled out for having the most importance and patients were scored depending on their risk level. The results revealed an 80 per cent level of accuracy in diagnosing people who were indeed suffering from Alzheimer's using biomarker levels. This increased to 94 per cent once other factors were taken into consideration, such as age and genetic information.

When it came to those deemed not to be suffering from the disease, the test was 91 per cent accurate, although this fell to 84 per cent once other factors were taken into account.

According to the study author, Sid O'Bryant, who is the director of research at the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Centre, research up to this point has mainly focused on people who are already suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He said more efforts need to be put into identifying people who are at the greatest risk of developing the disease.

Although there are medications on the market to help people combat memory loss which is associated with Alzheimer's disease, the real aim is to find a way of spotting the disease when it is in the very early stages and has yet to start causing damage.

The latest research results follow on from tests carried out at the Mayo Clinics in Jacksonville, Florida and Rochester in the state of Minnesota earlier this year. This research was described by the scientists involved as an important step towards developing a test to diagnose Alzheimer's at an early stage. It involved the discovery of biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid which is found next to the spinal cord. Once again this research showed how important biomarkers really could be in finding an early stage test for Alzheimer's disease.

Hopefully the latest round of tests and biomarker research will push scientists that little bit closer to being able to spot the earliest possible signs of Alzheimer's with the help of biomarkers with the eventual aim of stopping the disease in its tracks.

Researchers make more progress in helping detect Alzheimer's

By: Ben Dafftie

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