Galway Bay fm newsroom - Researchers at NUI Galway have identified a blood biomarker that could help identify people with dementia before the onset of symptoms.
The research was carried out with Boston University and has been published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
Researchers measured blood levels of P-tau181, a marker of neurodegeneration, in 52 adults who later went on to have specialised brain scans.
The samples were taken from people who had no cognitive symptoms and had normal cognitive test levels.
In later brain scans, it was found that elevated levels of the marker in the blood were associated with greater accumulation of an abnormal protein in Alzheimer's disease.
The specialised brain scans were completed, on average, seven years after the blood tests.
This means P-tau181 has the potential to help identify individuals at high risk of dementia at a very early stage, before the onset of symptoms such as memory difficulty or behavioral change.
The research team also says the identification of a biomarker also points to the potential for a population screening programme.
