EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, June 30, 2010
New Study Identifies Best Tests for Predicting Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease
ST. PAUL, Minn. -
New research has identified the memory and brain scan tests that appear to predict best whether a person with cognitive problems might develop . The research is published in the June 30, 2010, online issue of the medical journal of the . Memory and brain scan tests were performed on 85 people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who were part of a larger study called the Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. The tests included an episodic memory test, in which a participant must correctly recall a list of words. Blood tests were given to measure which form of the APOE gene people had, since one form of the gene is associated with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. MRI brain scans were also used to measure the size of a participant鈥檚 hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory. Proteins thought to play a role in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, called tau or beta-amyloid, were also measured. Finally, a PET brain scan was taken to detect metabolic abnormalities in the brain that might signal Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. 鈥淓ach of these tests have independently shown promise in predicting disease progression, however, prior to the Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, they had never been compared to one another in the same study before,鈥 said study author Susan M. Landau, PhD, with the University of California-Berkeley and a member of the 好色先生. Participants were between the ages of 55 and 90 and were followed for an average of 1.9 years. During that time, 28 of the participants developed Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. People who showed abnormal results on both PET scans and episodic memory tests were nearly 12 times more likely to develop Alzheimer鈥檚 disease than those who scored normally on both measures. 鈥淏ecause people with MCI decline at different rates and some never go on to develop Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, there is a need for tools that can better predict who might benefit most from treatment,鈥 said Landau. 鈥淲hen we compared all of the predictors, these two tests most accurately predicted who developed Alzheimer鈥檚.鈥 The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Dana Foundation.