Health
Alzheimer’s blood test detects disease with 90% accuracy in routine doctors’ appointments: study
A simple blood test has been shown to detect Alzheimer’s disease in routine health care settings with up to 90% accuracy, according to Swedish researchers.
The findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Philadelphia on Sunday.
The test works by measuring the levels of Plasma Phospho-Tau217, a biomarker that is linked to the presence of Alzheimer’s pathology in the brain.
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It has been shown to detect the disease even before the person begins experiencing symptoms, researchers say.
“The tested blood test can detect Alzheimer’s disease with high accuracy even in real-life settings in primary care,” said study author Oskar Hansson, M.D., head of the Clinical Memory Research Unit at Lund University, Sweden, in an email to Fox News Digital.
A simple blood test has been shown to detect Alzheimer’s disease in routine health care settings with up to 90% accuracy. (iStock)
It is currently difficult for primary care physicians to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease due to a lack of adequate tools, he said.
In the most recent study — also published in the journal JAMA — 1,213 people who were experiencing mild memory loss were evaluated by either primary care doctors or memory specialists.
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The patients then underwent both the blood test and cerebrospinal fluid tests, and researchers compared the results.
“Primary care doctors’ accuracy in identifying Alzheimer’s disease was 61%, while specialist physicians were correct 73% of the time,” study author Sebastian Palmqvist, associate professor of neurology at Lund University, stated in a press release.
By comparison, the blood test had an accuracy of 90%.
It is currently difficult for primary care physicians to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease because of a lack of adequate tools, according to researchers. (iStock)
“I was surprised by how well the blood test worked in real-life settings in primary care, where the patients are older and have more comorbidities like kidney disease, which can affect the blood test results,” Hansson told Fox News Digital.
The main limitation of the research was that it was only conducted in Sweden.
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“We need studies in the U.S. and other countries to better understand the generalizability of the findings,” Hansson said.
“I think it will take one or two years before there are clinical guidelines in place for use of blood tests in primary care.”
Looking ahead, there is a need for clear guidelines on how doctors should use these tests in clinical practice, according to the researchers.
“My prediction is that highly accurate blood tests will very soon be recommended for use in patients with cognitive impairment who are assessed at clinics specialized in memory disorders,” Hansson said.
The blood test could help to reduce the need for more advanced and expensive methods, like PET scans and cerebrospinal tests. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
This could help to reduce the need for more advanced and expensive methods, like PET scans and cerebrospinal tests.
“I think it will take one or two years before there are clinical guidelines in place for use of blood tests in primary care,” Hansson also noted.
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The researchers do not currently recommend screenings for “cognitively normal people” — as there are not any approved treatments for people with Alzheimer’s disease pathology who do not have cognitive impairment, the researcher said.
“My prediction is that highly accurate blood tests will very soon be recommended for use in patients with cognitive impairment who are assessed at clinics specialized in memory disorders,” a researcher predicted. (iStock)
Added Hansson, “Further, we propose that the blood test should be used as an adjunct to, and not replacement for, the clinical assessments used today.”
Approximately one in five women and one in 10 men develop dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
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The condition is misdiagnosed in 25% to 35% of patients who are treated at specialized clinics, previous studies have shown — and researchers believe that number is even higher for patients assessed by their primary care physicians.
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A new test could make it easier to detect high-risk prostate cancer cases earlier.
The blood test, called Stockholm3, is showing promise in clinical trials, beating out the traditional, standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.
In a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden studied the test’s efficacy in more than 12,000 men — mostly Swedish or European — aged 50 to 74.
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All participants were tested with PSA and Stockholm3 and were followed for two years. During the follow-up period, 443 men were diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer.
Stockholm3 detected 90% of aggressive prostate cancer cases compared to 74% for PSA tests.
Stockholm3 detected 90% of aggressive prostate cancer cases compared to 74% for PSA tests. (iStock)
Stockholm3 missed “significantly fewer” serious cancer cases than PSA. The number of men incorrectly classified as high-risk was similar across both tests, according to a press release.
Thorgerdur Palsdottir, a researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, wrote in a statement that one of the major challenges in prostate cancer is being able to identify the cases that are “truly dangerous.”
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“Our results show that Stockholm3 identifies significantly more aggressive cancer cases than PSA without increasing the number of unnecessary follow-ups,” she said.
“These results point toward a potential change in how prostate cancer screening can be conducted,” the researcher added. “A more precise blood test could enable earlier detection of aggressive disease while reducing the number of unnecessary follow-up examinations and procedures.”
“A more precise blood test could enable earlier detection of aggressive disease while reducing the number of unnecessary follow-up examinations and procedures,” a researcher commented. (iStock)
Study co-author Hari Vigneswaran, chief medical officer of Stockholm3-maker A3P Biomedical, commented on these “promising” findings in an interview with Fox News Digital.
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He confirmed that the PSA has been the standard for prostate cancer screening since the 1990s despite its “well-documented limitations.”
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“It leads to invasive and costly follow-up testing, contributes to over-diagnosis of non-aggressive cancers and, most importantly, it misses a substantial share of aggressive disease,” Vigneswaran said.
When aggressive prostate cancer is found while still confined in the prostate, the five-year survival is close to 100%. (iStock)
When aggressive prostate cancer is found while still confined in the prostate, the five-year survival rate is close to 100%, which highlights the importance of early detection, according to the doctor.
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Data from the National Cancer Institute’s SEER database show that metastatic prostate cancer has risen over the past decade, suggesting that “we have not improved early detection of the aggressive, curable disease that screening is meant to catch,” Vigneswaran said.
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“The goal of screening is to find the cancers that need treatment while they are still curable, without raising the number of men who screen positive but don’t have aggressive disease,” he said.
Stockholm3 could reduce the need for unnecessary MRIs and biopsies, according to the researcher. (Getty Images)
Stockholm3 could reduce the need for unnecessary MRIs and biopsies, according to the researcher.
The findings did have some limitations. Stockholm3 is an investigational device and is not available for sale in the U.S., Vigneswaran noted.
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The test estimates a man’s risk of aggressive prostate cancer, but a biopsy remains the gold standard for confirming the disease.
The company plans to seek FDA approval to use the test for routine screening and will “generate the evidence needed to support that pathway, including U.S. data,” Vigneswaran said.
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Scientists have linked eating leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale and broccoli to better lung health.
There are two primary forms of vitamin K found in foods. The primary kind is vitamin K1, found mainly in vegetables, which plays a major role in the body’s blood-clotting process.
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Vitamin K2 is found in fermented foods, certain dairy products, eggs and meats and helps regulate calcium in the body and supports bone health.
Researchers at Australia’s Edith Cowan University examined whether dietary intake of vitamins K1 and K2 was associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and lung function.
Leafy green vegetables are high in vitamin K1, a nutrient that researchers have observed conributes to improved lung health. (iStock)
“Chronic respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, are among the most prevalent noncommunicable diseases worldwide and were the third leading cause of death in 2019, accounting for 4 million deaths and affecting 454.6 million individuals globally,” the scientists reported in the introduction to their study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“Although asthma and COPD can be managed with available treatments, neither condition is curable, underscoring the need for effective prevention strategies,” they added.
The leading cause of COPD is smoking, the Mayo Clinic reported. Exposure to other irritants, such as dust, chemicals and pollution, can also cause it.
The researchers analyzed data from 179,062 participants over a 10-and-a-half-year period and concluded that, “Higher dietary vitamin K1 intake was associated with better lung function and a lower rate of COPD.”
Researchers found that people who increased their vitamin K1 intake were less likely to develop COPD. (iStock)
Participants who consumed the most vitamin K1 had a 16% lower likelihood of COPD, the researchers observed. The effects were more pronounced in smokers and participants with high-risk occupations.
Consumption of vitamin K2 did not result in lower COPD rates.
“No association was observed for vitamin K1 or vitamin K2 intakes and asthma,” the researchers also wrote.
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Associate Professor Marc Sim, who was involved in the study, said that it’s likely Vitamin K activates a protein that may help keep lung tissue flexible and prevent damage.
Because the study was observational, it cannot prove that vitamin K1 directly reduces COPD risk, only that higher intake was associated with better lung health.
Researchers have associated higher consumption of leafy green vegetables with better lung function. (iStock)
Just one extra serving of leafy greens “is an achievable way to boost your vitamin K1 intake,” said Chengfeng Li, one of the study’s researchers.
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Other foods rich in vitamin K1 include collard greens, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts and turnip greens.
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