September 10, 2015 |

Researchers: Simple blood test can predict onset of Alzheimer’s

Scientists at King's College London have found that a simple blood test can predict the onset of diseases such as Alzheimer's. They identified a set of genes that need to function properly at age 65 in order to predict "healthy aging," according to the Telegraph.

Researchers say this blood test will help doctors decide which middle-aged patients could be offered early intervention therapies before symptoms of demetia appear. If the genes in the blood test score low, the more likely the disease is to be present.

"Most people accept that all 60-year-olds are not the same, but there has been no reliable test for underlying 'biological age'," study author James Timmons, from King’s College London, told the Telegraph. "Our discovery provides the first robust molecular ‘signature’ of biological age in humans and should be able to transform the way that 'age' is used to make medical decisions."

Read more about the study here.

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Megan Combs

Megan Combs was Associate Editor of I Advance Senior Care / Long Term Living from 2013-2018.