Diagnosing Alzheimer's disease: are we any nearer to useful biomarker-based, non-invasive tests?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Alzheimer's disease (AD) accounts for 60-80% of cases of dementia and causes significant morbidity in patients and carers, and expense for health and social services. There is a need for a validated, non-invasive and cheap test to diagnose early AD, as diagnosis may enable prompt treatment and service planning.

Aim

To identify emerging biomarker-based tests for the early diagnosis of AD which could be available for use in primary or generalist care in the near future.

Design

Horizon scanning review.

Methods

We searched online sources to identify emerging non-invasive, biomarker-based tests. Tests were included if they used blood, saliva or urine; and there was evidence of use in trials in patients with AD. For tests licensed for use in clinical or re

SUBMITTER: Fletcher LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3677379 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature