New York: Researchers from the University of California San Diego have found that a novel blood-based biomarker can predict a woman’s risk of developing dementia as many as 25 years before symptoms appear.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, shows that higher levels of phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) — a protein linked to the brain changes seen in Alzheimer’s disease — were strongly associated with future mild cognitive impairment and dementia among older women who were cognitively healthy at baseline, meaning at the start of the study before any memory or thinking problems were detected.
“Our study suggests we may be able to identify women at elevated risk for dementia decades before symptoms emerge,” said Aladdin H. Shadyab, first author of the study and UC San Diego associate professor of public health and medicine at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and the School of Medicine.
The findings are based on data from 2,766 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study, a large national study that enrolled women ages 65 to 79 in the late 1990s and followed them for up to 25 years.
Over the years of follow-up, researchers identified women who developed memory or thinking problems, including dementia. Those who had higher levels of p-tau217 in their blood at the start of the study were much more likely to develop dementia later in life. In fact, as levels of this biomarker increased, so did dementia risk.
Women with the highest p-tau217 levels faced the greatest likelihood of developing dementia over the long term. “Blood-based biomarkers like p-tau217 are especially promising because they are far less invasive and potentially more accessible than brain imaging or spinal fluid tests,” said Linda K. McEvoy, senior author of the study.
