Healthcare study: Alzheimer’s blood test shows high accuracy

Researchers from Lund, Sweden, Oskar Hansson, Sebastian Palmqvist and colleagues have developed a blood test to measure levels of tau217, a biomarker specific for Alzheimer’s. The test measures the ratio of phosphorylated to non-phosphorylated variants of the protein.

According to a study published in Nature earlier this year, blood tests can be as good as spinal fluid tests for detecting Alzheimer’s.

The researchers have now completed a study in which the blood test was tested in primary care and at a specialised memory clinic. The study included a total of 1213 people who sought care for memory impairment, and about half of them had brain changes related to Alzheimer’s.

“The results show that the blood test can determine with 90% accuracy whether a person with memory problems has Alzheimer’s or not,” says Sebastian Palmqvist, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Neurology at Lund University and Senior Consultant at Skåne University Hospital, in a press release.

The accuracy of the test was also compared with the doctors’ assessments. According to the researchers, primary care physicians were 61% accurate in identifying Alzheimer’s disease and specialist physicians were 73% accurate.

“The next step will be to develop clear clinical guidelines for using the blood test in healthcare,” says Oskar Hansson in a comment.

He expects that the blood test will be available for physicians to order in the autumn.

The study was published in the scientific journal JAMA.