Blood test for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease approved in US
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first blood test for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in America.
This follows a US study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia, where scientists tested patients from an outpatient memory clinic in Florida to look for two proteins – amyloid beta 42/40 and p-tau217.
Dr Gregg Day, who led the study, says:
“Our study found that blood testing affirmed the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease with 95% sensitivity and 82% specificity. When performed in the outpatient clinical setting, this is similar to the accuracy of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of the disease and is much more convenient and cost-effective.”
You can read the study here: https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.70316
Read information from the FDA on this blood test here: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-clears-first-blood-test-used-diagnosing-alzheimers-disease
In the UK, the Blood Biomarker Challenge (which we’ve reported on here: https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk/?s=blood+biomarker+challenge) is studying blood tests for diagnosing dementia.