Alzheimer’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease, which slowly damages memory and thinking skills can now be predicted before symptoms begin.
In a breakthrough development, the Mayo Clinic has developed a new tool to predict the likelihood of developing memory related issues long before symptoms appear.
According to a study published in The Lancet Neurology, it uses data from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, one of the largest and longest-running brain health projects.
The tool tracked numerous individuals in Minnesota, enabling scientists to see who develops mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia over time.
The recently developed tool estimates the risk of MCI, the stage between normal ageing and dementia, using multiple factors, including genes, sex, amyloid levels in the brain, and age.
People with increased amyloid accumulation, women, and those with APOE ε4 gene version had a higher lifetime risk.
Amyloid is a sticky and insoluble protein that was discovered to be the strongest predictor of future memory decline.
Scientists stated that the model could one day work like lipid profile tests for cardiac diseases, assisting the medical professionals identify patients who might benefit from early treatment or lifestyle changes.
It is pertinent to mention that the tool is particularly developed for research use, it also represents a big step towards personalized Alzheimer’s prevention, offering people the chance to prepare or intervene before symptoms disrupt their daily routine.
