Blood Marker Predicts Alzheimer's

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
High blood levels of a plaque peptide may predict Alzheimer's disease in elderly people.

The finding comes from a study of 1,125 people who were in their late 70s when their blood was first tested. Four and a half years later, 104 of them had Alzheimer's disease.

Those with the highest blood levels of A-beta 42, a major component of the plaque that clogs the brains of Alzheimer's patients, were far more likely to get Alzheimer's than were those with the lowest A-beta 42 levels.

"Compared with individuals with low [blood] A-beta 42 levels at baseline, those with high A-beta 42 levels had more than a threefold increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease over an average of...read the whole article