Chula Medicine's Innovative Latent Dementia Detection Could Delay Alzheimer's Onset in Elderly by 10 Years
Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Diseases Health Science Center, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University has developed a blood test that can give a 10-year warning of Alzheimer's disease. The test can help people prepare to slow down the development of dementia in old age. The research team used immunological techniques to perform blood tests that detect phosphorylated Tau in the blood and Neurofilament light chan, a brain cells loss test. The project is funded by the Institute of Health Systems Research Institute (HSRI).
According to Dr. Phusanu Thanapornsangsut, lecturer of Neurology, the Department of Medicine, and head of the Neurodegenerative Disease Biomarker Project at the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Diseases Health Science Center, Alzheimer's has an incubation period of 10 – 15 years before the onset of symptoms, which can be called latent Alzheimer's. During this time, patients do not show any symptoms, and they can work normally. By the time the disease has progressed to the point where symptoms manifest, the patient would have already lost a lot of brain cells, and rehabilitating or salvaging the brain is difficult.
The blood test for latent Alzheimer's can help individuals take care of themselves and stay away from dementia before symptoms appear. The test is a more affordable solution, with a less complex and less painful procedure that yields more accurate results. Alzheimer's protein detection with a blood test is a new and cost-effective procedure that can yield up to 88 percent accuracy. Similar to the techniques used abroad, the cost of the test is low compared to traditional methods. Importantly, it also increases accessibility to the service. The test is simple and safe, and the test subject does not need to fast before the blood draw. Only 10 cc. of blood is needed for a single test, and analysis takes 2 months to get results.
Alzheimer's is a disease that many people pray that they or their loved ones do not experience. But looking at today's social context, there's no denying that the disease is more relevant to us than it seems. Alzheimer's usually manifests itself when people are 60 years old and above. As we are in an aging society, dementia becomes more common. Currently, 50 million people are suffering from dementia around the world, and in Thailand, there are 700 thousand such patients, 500 thousand of which suffer from Alzheimer's. Without individual and social measures to slow or prevent dementia, the number of cases will increase. It is estimated that the global population of elderly people suffering from dementia will increase threefold within thirty years.
Dementia and Alzheimer's are incurable, so it's best to prevent them from developing or slow them down as soon as possible. Dementia can be caused by many reasons and many diseases, but the most important culprit is Alzheimer's, and the second being vascular diseases. The cause of Alzheimer's is not known, however, there are many contributing factors, including genetics, the environment, pollution, stress, etc.
Dementia and Alzheimer's often occur in the elderly aged 60 and older, with 1 in 16 people over the age of 60 having a chance of developing Alzheimer's disease, while in those 80 and older, the ratio increases to 1 in 6. The longer a person lives, the greater the likelihood of dementia. Dementia begins with forgetfulness about past events. As symptoms grow, patients become less and less able to help themselves until they are unable to perform their daily activities on their own, as they used to, requiring constant supervision. And when the disease has reached the final stage, they are at risk of dying from infections.
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