Blood test may predict onset of Alzheimer’s and related disease, new study finds

Their study, described Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine, identifies 10 lipids in the blood that predict onset of the disease. Researchers tested the blood of 525 people age 70 and older over five years, 74 of whom either began the study meeting the criteria or later developed the criteria for mild Alzheimer’s disease or a memory loss condition known as amnestic mild cognitive impairment that is often a precursor to Alzheimer’s. Among those who developed the disease, the researchers discovered the presence of 10 lipids that were abnormal and that predicted with more than 90 percent accuracy the onset of the disease.