Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
New Blood Tests to detect Alzheimer's Disease
Old 03-10-2014, 09:30 AM   #1
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 193
New Blood Tests to detect Alzheimer's Disease

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have developed a blood test for Alzheimer's disease that predicts with astonishing accuracy whether a healthy person will develop the disease.
landover is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 03-10-2014, 10:11 AM   #2
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 845
Sort of. From the synopsis of the study:

We discovered and validated a set of ten lipids from peripheral blood that predicted phenoconversion to either amnestic mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease within a 2–3 year timeframe with over 90% accuracy.

http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vao...l/nm.3466.html
anethum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 11:08 AM   #3
Moderator
braumeister's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,198
If you have blood, you're at risk.
braumeister is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 11:13 AM   #4
Moderator Emeritus
aja8888's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Conroe, Texas
Posts: 18,645
Quote:
Originally Posted by braumeister View Post
If you have blood, you're at risk.
Especially if it's in your body and being routinely pumped around.
aja8888 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 12:46 PM   #5
Administrator
MichaelB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,585
I split these posts off into a new thread. Currently a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is mostly a judgement call and made after years of disease progression. This announcement can be pretty significant. Another link http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014...ical-questions

Quote:
The results need to be confirmed, and the approach still needs to be tried in people of different ages and from different racial groups, Federoff says. Even so, he says, it raises the possibility that in the not too distant future, many more people will know their risk of Alzheimer's.
MichaelB is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 01:21 PM   #6
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 4,366
I wasn't exactly astounded by a 90% accuracy, but it's better than nothing.
Animorph is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 01:35 PM   #7
Administrator
MichaelB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,585
Quote:
Originally Posted by Animorph View Post
I wasn't exactly astounded by a 90% accuracy, but it's better than nothing.
Well, 90% does sound pretty mediocre for a breakthrough in modern medicine. After sitting alongside my mother over the past few years as 4 different specialists administered basically the same test on her my first reaction was to see this as a giant step forward - if it pans out as described in the article. The way they go about it now is stone-age in comparison and the disease is only diagnosed when it is well entrenched and little can be done.
MichaelB is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 05:07 PM   #8
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,320
Yes 90% is not good. With the incidence of Alzheimer's most of the positives will still be false positives. But it's way worse than that as it says: 'Overall, the blood test predicted who would get Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment with over 90% accuracy.' Mild cognitive impairment is now Alzheimer's - I'm sorry but I have mild cognitive impairment at age 52, especially if I don't have any caffeine on board.

A long, long way to go. And I think before we start screening we are supposed to have some form of treatment that works. Do we have that?
6miths is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 07:17 PM   #9
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Htown Harry's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 1,525
I think this study is unlikely to change anything in the short term.

One of their cited references articles, from 2011, includes this passage that puts the current announcement in context.

They seem to "hope" that trying some types of AD treatments that don't do lot to modify symptoms in more advanced cases will have a greater effect on pre-symptomatic patients.

Maybe, maybe not.

(AD= Alzheimer's disease, with -P being early, pathophysiological stages without clinical symptoms)
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...62788935,d.b2I
Quote:
In particular, the poignant question of “why would anyone
want to know they have AD a decade before they might develop
symptoms, if there is nothing they can do about it?”
should be carefully considered well before any results
from research is translated into clinical practice. First, there
may be important reasons, including social and financial
planning, why some individuals would want to know their
likelihood of developing AD dementia within the next
decade, even in the absence of an available disease modifying
therapy. It is our hope, however, that the advances
in preclinical detection of AD-P will enable earlier, more
effective treatment, just as nearly all of therapeutic gains
in cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes
involve treatment before significant clinical symptoms are
present. It is entirely possible that promising drugs, particularly
amyloid-modifying agents, will fail to affect the clinical
course of AD at the stage of dementia or even MCI, when
the neurodegenerative process is well entrenched, but may
be efficacious at the earliest stages of the AD-P, before the
onset of symptoms.

The definitive studies to determine whether the majority
of asymptomatic individuals with evidence of AD-P are
indeed destined to develop AD dementia, to elucidate the
biomarker and/or cognitive endophenotype that is most
predictive of cognitive decline, and to determine whether
intervention with potential disease-modifying therapies in
the preclinical stages of AD will prevent dementia are
likely to take more than a decade to fully accomplish.
__________________
No doubt a continuous prosperity, though spendthrift, is preferable to an economy thriftily moral, though lean. Nevertheless, that prosperity would seem more soundly shored if, by a saving grace, more of us had the grace to save.

Life Magazine editorial, 1956
Htown Harry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 08:48 PM   #10
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,796
Promising & important report, but agree with 6miths that there's still much more work needed in this area. IMHO- The media seems to have WAY over-hyped this study. It is very preliminary and has some important weaknesses-
1. Only 525 total participants. All 70+yrs old and stated to be "otherwise healthy", but 46 were diagnosed with mild memory impairment or early Alzheimer's on study entry. Only 28 "converted" to "impaired" status during the 5 yr study, and this is a very small # for subgroup where a prospective test could be most useful.
2. Folks with early Alzheimer's Disease and mild memory cognitive impairment were lumped together for analysis, but clearly not all patients with MCI go on to develop AD.
Mild cognitive impairment Treatment at Mayo Clinic - Diseases and Conditions - Mayo Clinic
3. AD/MCI and non-impaired "controls" were only matched for age, sex, and education but not for many other factors associated with AD &/or MCI (e.g. thyroid conditions, sleep disorders, minor strokes, poor diet, etc.).
4. "Accuracy" of 90% for Alzheimer's test in the elderly must be taken in context. Consider that the lifetime risk of a non-impaired 65 yr old getting dementia of ANY cause (not just AD) is 17-20%, so healthy 65yo planning on never getting AD is already 80-83% accurate based on stats alone (pg 19 of link below). I realize this study included folks a bit older (sl higher risk AD), but IMHO any proposed screening test for AD needs to be better than 90% to be both cost-effective & personally useful (e.g. accelerating 'bucket list' planning, budgeting future LTC needs, etc.).

Nice overview of AD can be found here-
http://www.alz.org/downloads/facts_figures_2013.pdf
ERhoosier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 09:08 PM   #11
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Htown Harry's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 1,525
Nice analysis ERH.

Maybe this isn't a "test that predicts with astonishing accuracy", but is instead a report that is astonishing in its accuracy claims ?
__________________
No doubt a continuous prosperity, though spendthrift, is preferable to an economy thriftily moral, though lean. Nevertheless, that prosperity would seem more soundly shored if, by a saving grace, more of us had the grace to save.

Life Magazine editorial, 1956
Htown Harry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2014, 09:40 PM   #12
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Ally's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: West Tx
Posts: 1,392
After watching my mom die of Alzheimer's and all the surrounding effects on family, I'm not sure I would want to take this test anyway. It's bad enough wondering if I might get it, but knowing I probably would get it would be truly depressing.
Ally is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2014, 06:09 AM   #13
Moderator
Walt34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,299
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ally View Post
It's bad enough wondering if I might get it, but knowing I probably would get it would be truly depressing.
I was thinking the same thing. One might expect the rate of suicides by those who got a positive test result to jump. Not a positive outcome.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
Walt34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2014, 06:30 AM   #14
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Rural
Posts: 120
"A long, long way to go. And I think before we start screening we are supposed to have some form of treatment that works. Do we have that?"

There are medications that can help folks maintain, basically slow the progression of the disease. Aricept, Namenda, Exelon. There may be others that I am not aware of yet. These meds only work for so long, however.

I watched my great-grandparents and my grandparents suffer through dementia. My grandmother had an extended progression and most likely had Alzheimer's. Her sister had early onset Alzheimer's starting in her late 50s. I know my father has huge fears about his future. He is about to turn 65 so hopefully has avoided the early onset type.

At this point I don't think I would want to know if I was doomed or not. How depressing! But the research is definitely needed and let's pray that more treatments and a cure is discovered !
dontworry is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Lack of Transparency Still. Blood Tests. Rant. John Galt III Health and Early Retirement 25 02-17-2014 10:59 AM
Cost of 17 Blood Tests in Thailand ItDontMeanAThing Life after FIRE 12 01-19-2012 03:37 PM
Fasting vs non-fasting blood tests kaneohe Health and Early Retirement 3 08-28-2009 09:17 PM
"Buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own." dex FIRE and Money 14 09-30-2008 10:47 AM
What would you do if you had alzheimer's disease? imnxpat Health and Early Retirement 44 04-21-2008 04:50 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:41 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.