A new blood test is effective at detecting Alzheimer’s in patients before they exhibit symptoms of it, a new study said

Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disorder that causes memory loss and cognitive impairment

The leading cause of dementia, it affects 6M Americans

Scientists don’t know what causes Alzheimer’s, but research has suggested it is linked to two proteins commonly found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients: Beta-amyloid and tau

Doctors currently diagnose Alzheimer’s using spinal taps and brain scans, which are too expensive for many patients

Last year, AD-Detect, the first blood test that screens for amyloid proteins, was approved for sale in the US

Yet that test is meant to determine a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s, not if they have it

Per a new study published in the journal JAMA Neurology, though, a new test can screen for Alzheimer’s with “high accuracy” before patients exhibit symptoms of the disease

The test, developed by biotech company ALZpath, screens patients for the “blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s,” the study’s authors said

By doing so, the test can accurately determine the presence of amyloid and tau in the brain

For the study, researchers used the test on 786 people with an average age of 66 who had undergone brain scans and spinal taps

They found that in 80% of cases, the blood test produced similar results to those of conventional detection methods

It was up to 96% accurate at identifying elevated amyloid levels and 97% accurate for tau levels

A researcher involved in the study told CNN that the blood test could reduce demand for “costly and high-demand examinations” while also increasing the speed of diagnosis

Another said the blood test could open the door to routine Alzheimer’s screenings in the future, which in turn could lead to quicker action against the disease and better-informed decisions

ALZpath’s test is currently available for research use but could soon be approved for public use

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