Blood test can check dementia risk

Washington: Now you can test the possibility of developing dementia with a prick of a needle.

As opposed to cardiovascular diseases, where the level of cholesterol in our blood indicates the risk of cardiac arrest, there are no such trustworthy markers in our blood in terms of diagnosing the risk of dementia setting in. However, Scientists at Rigshopitalet, Herlev Hospital and the University of Copenhagen have now identified a new biomarker, measurable in a simple blood test, which will help predict the onset of dementia.

Assistant clinical and research professor Ruth Frikke-Schmidt, said that the blood test would help provide a more precise risk evaluation of a citizen's risk of developing dementia later in life.

The blood test would enable an earlier and more focused prevention effort, thus prolonging the onset of the illness and raising the individual's quality of life, she added. Researchers hope that with time, this new blood test will be applicable in clinical practice.

In the study, researchers show that a low level of the biomarker, the so-called apolipoprotein E, in our blood, increases the risk of developing dementia in the future. This was revealed in comprehensive studies of the general public, the Herlev-Oesterbro Study and the Oesterbro Study, involving 76,000 people.

The study is published in th internationally acclaimed journal, the Annals of Neurology.