Medical science has added another feather to its cap. The Stanford University School of Medicine, California has devised a blood test that can predict Alzheimer’s risk almost six years before its onset. Alzheimer’s is a neuro-degenerative disease that causes memory loss, loss of thinking ability and loss of the ability to communicate in older people. The problem is determining whether the memory loss is the onset of Alzheimer’s or a part of normal old age.
The researchers claim that the blood test showed over 90% accuracy and they believe that this shall help them in early diagnosis of this disease. This in turn will help them in slowing down the progress of the disease in the affected person. This discovery will help India a lot in increasing the average life expectancy from 64.7 years to 75.6 by the year 2050. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs has estimated that the number of Indians aged above 80 years will increase upto more than 6 times by the year 2050. Almost 20% in this category suffers from Alzheimer’s in India.
It is estimated that Alzheimer’s kills one out of four Indians over the age of 80. Due to lack of knowledge among the public, the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s is usually overlooked and tagged as normal symptoms of old age. By taking this simple blood test, one will be able to identify many changes in a handful of proteins in the blood plasma. There was a strong connection between shift in cell dialogues in the blood plasma and changes in the brain accompanying Alzheimer’s. This drug will definitely prove to be beneficial when introduced in India.
The researchers claim that the blood test showed over 90% accuracy and they believe that this shall help them in early diagnosis of this disease. This in turn will help them in slowing down the progress of the disease in the affected person. This discovery will help India a lot in increasing the average life expectancy from 64.7 years to 75.6 by the year 2050. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs has estimated that the number of Indians aged above 80 years will increase upto more than 6 times by the year 2050. Almost 20% in this category suffers from Alzheimer’s in India.
It is estimated that Alzheimer’s kills one out of four Indians over the age of 80. Due to lack of knowledge among the public, the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s is usually overlooked and tagged as normal symptoms of old age. By taking this simple blood test, one will be able to identify many changes in a handful of proteins in the blood plasma. There was a strong connection between shift in cell dialogues in the blood plasma and changes in the brain accompanying Alzheimer’s. This drug will definitely prove to be beneficial when introduced in India.
