Taipei hospital develops blood test for Alzheimer's detection

台北醫院開發阿茲海默症血液檢測方法

Blood test analyzes protein levels, achieves 93% accuracy


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei Veterans General Hospital said Wednesday that it developed a blood test capable of detecting Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer's is a progressive neurodegenerative disease and the most common cause of dementia. It is characterized by the accumulation of abnormal proteins in the brain, leading to a decline in cognitive function, including memory, thinking, and behavior.

Taipei Veterans General Hospital Deputy Superintendent Wang Shuu-jiun (王署君) said that traditional methods for diagnosing dementia rely on evaluating symptoms, brain scans, and cerebrospinal fluid tests, with an accuracy of about 70%. He said the hospital’s blood test analyzes the levels of specific proteins in the blood and achieves a diagnostic accuracy of 93%, per CNA.

Fuh Jong-ling (傅中玲), deputy director of the hospital’s neurology center, said that one in every 12 elderly individuals in Taiwan suffers from dementia. She noted that some methods of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease are invasive and costly.

Fuh said the hospital’s medical team analyzed blood samples from 270 participants in January, including healthy individuals, those with mild cognitive impairment, and dementia patients. The team compared the results of the blood tests with brain CT scans and found that higher concentrations of certain proteins in the blood were more likely to indicate Alzheimer’s disease.

Dementia cannot be cured, the hospital noted. Fuh said the US Food and Drug Administration approved antibody drugs targeting brain-function-related proteins. These drugs can help delay the progression of the disease and are suitable for patients with mild cognitive impairment and early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, around 350,000 individuals aged 65 and over in Taiwan were living with dementia last year. The number is projected to exceed 470,000 by 2030 and reach 680,000 by 2040.

The ministry added that the prevalence of dementia among women was 9.36%, higher than the 6.35% recorded for men. Among seniors aged 80 and above, the likelihood of developing dementia ranged from 16% to 23%, compared to 2.4% for those aged 65 to 70, which indicates the prevalence of dementia increases with age.