Your Risk for Dementia Could One Day Be Determined Through a Blood Test

A new study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association suggests a blood test may one day be able to gauge a person's risk for developing dementia, reports Newsweek . The researchers analyzed blood samples from 22,623 people from five countries. A total of 995 developed dementia, and analysis determined certain lipoproteins that ferry cholesterol throughout the body were associated with higher dementia risk. In addition, people with higher concentrations of branched-chain amino acids, creatinine, and two types of lipoproteins had a lower risk. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston's Dr. Sudha Seshadri sees a glimmer of hope that further work in this area could enable blood tests to evaluate dementia risk. However, she adds that it still remains uncertain as to whether a causal relationship exists, or if these biomarkers are early indications of dementia.