A new blood test, the amyloid probability score 2 (APS2), has been found to accurately identify Alzheimer's disease in both primary and secondary care settings.

The study, recently published in JAMA, involved 1,213 patients undergoing cognitive evaluation in Sweden between February 2020 and January 2024.

The APS2 blood test, which measures specific proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease, such as phosphorylated tau (p-tau217) and amyloid beta, achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 88-92% for detecting Alzheimer's pathology.

According to research published by the NIH, "before the early 2000s, the only sure way to know whether a person had Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia was by viewing molecular and cellular changes in brain tissue under a microscope after death."

‘Lecanemab and donanemab are FDA-approved immunotherapy drugs for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s. These drugs target the protein beta-amyloid to help reduce amyloid plaques, one of the hallmark brain changes in Alzheimer’s’ ,according to a NIH post.

As per a consensus statement published in June, ‘Anti-amyloid treatments for early symptomatic Alzheimer disease have recently become clinically available in some countries, which has greatly increased the need for biomarker confirmation of amyloid pathology.’

Research published in The Journal of Alzheimer's Association indicates that symptomatic Alzheimer's disease is frequently misdiagnosed. Studies show that 25% to 35% of patients treated in specialized clinics receive an incorrect diagnosis, and this rate may be even higher in primary care settings.

The introduction of a blood test with such high diagnostic accuracy could revolutionize the approach to diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease.

It offers a more accessible and less invasive alternative to existing methods, potentially reducing the rate of misdiagnosis and facilitating timely treatment initiation.