Swedish researchers have reported a new blood test called PrecivityAD2 is 90% accurate in identifying Alzheimer’s disease in people experiencing cognitive symptoms.
Their study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and presented at Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2024.
Co-lead author Prof Oskar Hansson from Lund University noted: ‘Early diagnosis is crucial as new treatments that slow the disease’s progression are developed.’
For this study, researchers tested the PrecivityAD2 blood test made by C2N Diagnostics LLC. It works by measuring a combination of two ratios within a blood sample: plasma phosphorylated-tau217 (also called p-tau217) to not-phosphorylated- tau217; two types of amyloid-beta: AB42 and AB 40. Both tau and amyloid-beta proteins are currently considered pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.
Blood tests for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease are crucial because they offer a less invasive, more cost-effective and accessible alternative to current methods like cerebrospinal fluid tests and amyloid PET scans.
For this study 1,200 study participants with an average age of 74 were tested with the PrecivityAD2 blood test: 23% had subjective cognitive decline, 33% had dementia, and 44% had mild cognitive impairment. About 50% showed Alzheimer’s disease pathology through primary and secondary care testing.
Of the 698 participants previously seen at a memory clinic, the PrecivityAD2 test was about 90% accurate in identifying the presence of Alzheimer’s disease, while specialists were only 73% valid.
For the remaining 515 participants originally seen by a primary care doctor, the test was again about 90% accurate in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease, compared to primary care physicians being 61% correct.
Co-lead author Prof Sebastian Palmqvist told medicalnewstoday.com: ‘Primary care doctors’ accuracy in identifying Alzheimer’s disease was 61%, while specialist physicians were correct 73%.
‘This underscores the lack of good, cost-effective diagnostic tools, particularly in primary care, and indicates the potential improvement in diagnosis with the adoption of this blood test in healthcare settings.’
