US researchers report blood test that can predict Alzheimer’s

A blood test that can accurately predict the onset of Alzheimer's disease has been reported by, US researchers. They showed that testing levels of 10 fats in the blood could predict - with 90% accuracy - the risk of the disease coming on in the next three years.

Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, will now be tested in larger clinical trials.

Scientists at Georgetown University in Washington DC analysed blood samples from 525 people over the age of 70 as part of a five-year study. They took 53 of them who developed Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment and compared their blood with 53 who stayed mentally agile. They found differences in the levels of 10 lipids, or fats, between the two groups. And when the research team looked in the other blood samples, those 10 markers of Alzheimer's could predict who was likely to enter mental decline in the following years.