Alzheimer's Blood Tests Show Promise but Have Limitations

As scientists race to develop simple blood tests that could one day act as an early warning system for Alzheimer's disease by sounding the alarm before memory problems appear, new research shows tracking shifts in certain protein biomarkers over time is more accurate than relying on a single test result.

One study presented this month found that obesity can mask signals of the disease by diluting Alzheimer’s-linked proteins, making a single blood test less reliable. Another recently published study shows that people who worried about their memory but performed normally on routine cognitive tests — and had evidence of early Alzheimer's in their spinal fluid — showed a steeper increase in these proteins in their blood over five years than those in the same situation without the spinal fluid evidence. Some later developed abnormal indicators linked to Alzheimer's — despite normal initial tests, the study showed.

Taken together, the research reflects continued advancements in the technology being developed to detect Alzheimer's, even if the tests are not yet primed for widespread diagnostic use.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.