Researchers are working to make it easier to identify Alzheimer’s disease in Black adults.
MADISON (WKOW) — Researchers at UW-Madison are working to make it easier for doctors to detect Alzheimer’s disease earlier.
The study focuses on Black adults, who are nearly twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s and other dementias but often tend to be diagnosed and treated later in the disease process.
The team of researchers is working to combat that by finding easier, less expensive and more accessible ways to detect Alzheimer’s disease.
“A blood test is much easier to conduct than a PET scan or a lumbar puncture,” said the study’s lead author Barbara Fischer. “That can be done in a community setting. It can be done at a doctor’s office.”
Fischer said preliminary findings indicate a blood biomarker and a method of testing memory and thinking could identify middle-aged Black people who are at risk for developing Alzheimer’s in the future.
The study was published in the Journal of Translational & Clinical Interventions.