from journal Alzheimer's & Dementia
We already know early diagnosis and treatment is currently the best way to deal with Alzheimer’s disease. A new discovery suggests the ability to predict the risk of Alzheimer’s well in advance with just a blood test and memory test. Researchers in Sweden found a sugar molecule in blood called glycans were altered early in development of the disease. They used a simple statistical model to predict Alzheimer’s to a reliability of eighty percent almost a decade before symptoms such as memory loss appear. The results are based on more than two hundred participants followed for seventeen years. The report, in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, says additional blood samples are currently being analyzed.