CHICAGO (NewsNation) — A new at-home blood test is making it more convenient for people to detect their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Quest Diagnostics’ QUEST AD-Detect blood-based Alzheimer’s disease risk test kit allows anyone who is suffering from mild memory loss, or who has a family history of the disease, to test for the illness at home. While the kit is being offered for $399, it allows patients to avoid invasive spinal taps at the hospital.
Dr. Tom Pitts, a board-certified neurologist, said it’s imperative to detect the disease as soon as possible so that doctors and patients can determine the best course of action for treatment. However, it’s important to note that this test is a confirmatory test, not a predictive test, meaning that if people are experiencing memory loss symptoms, this test can confirm if they are early Alzheimer’s symptoms.
This test cannot predict if you will have Alzheimer’s if you are not experiencing symptoms, Pitt said. He broke down the process, explaining that only 1% of Alzheimer’s patients have genetic Alzheimer’s. And of that 1%, only 11% can be genetically tested.
However, more than 6.7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, and learning about a potential risk for the disease earlier can help prevent progressed symptoms.
What this test does is detect abnormal protein ratios which occur once the disease starts, Pitt said. Once detected, the medicines currently offered can help slow the disease’s progression.
“We want to detect it as early as possible,” Pitt said. “If someone comes in at 59 and says, ‘I have memory issues,’ we want to get that medicine on board before it gets bad.”
The Quest test allows potential patients experiencing memory loss to confirm it is indeed Alzheimer’s, which allows doctors the chance to prescribe treatment to slow the disease’s progression.