Thousands to be offered blood tests for dementia in UK court case
Thousands of people in the UK concerned about their memory will have blood tests for dementia in two studies that doctors hope will help revolutionize the low diagnosis rate.
Teams from the University of Oxford and University College London will lead the trials into using cheap and simple tests to detect proteins in people with early stages of dementia or cognitive problems, in the hope of speeding up diagnosis and reaching more people.
Currently, obtaining a formal diagnosis in Britain relies on tests of mental capacity, brain scans or invasive and painful lumbar punctures, which involve taking a sample of cerebrospinal fluid from the lower back.
In Britain, around 1 million people live with the condition, and this is expected to rise to around 1.7 million by 2040 – with potentially grim consequences. In 2022, dementia claimed the lives of 66,000 people in England and Wales, and it is now the leading cause of death in Britain, with Alzheimer’s disease responsible for two-thirds of cases.
Patients and their families are having to wait up to four years for an appointment and results, according to charities. More than one in three people with dementia in England are yet to receive a formal diagnosis.
The tests are highly effective in research settings, so if they prove equally useful in real life, they could make diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease more accessible.
They could give patients results much earlier and accelerate the introduction of new Alzheimer’s drugs that rely on early diagnosis. The trial will help determine whether they can be rolled out routinely across the NHS.
Fiona Carragher, director of research and advocacy at the Alzheimer’s Society, said the reliance on specialist tests had led to “unnecessary delays, worry and uncertainty”, often preventing people from accessing the care they needed early.
“Dementia is the biggest cause of death in Britain, yet a third of people with dementia are undiagnosed, meaning they cannot access care and support. Currently, only 2% of people with dementia have access to the specialized tests needed to prove they are eligible for new treatments, leading to unnecessary delays, worry and uncertainty,” she said.
The research teams are sponsored by Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Society, with £5 million in funding from the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Dr. Sheona Scales, research director at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “We have seen the huge potential that blood testing shows for improving the diagnostic process for people and their loved ones in other disease areas. Now we need to see the same step change in dementia, the biggest challenge facing Britain’s healthcare system.
“It’s fantastic that, by working with the leading experts in the dementia community, we can aim to pioneer blood tests for diagnosing dementia within the NHS. And this will be critical to increasing access to groundbreaking new treatments on the horizon.”
More than 50 memory clinics across the UK will offer blood tests to around 5,000 volunteers as part of the five-year trial.
Jonathan Schott, the Chief Medical Officer at Alzheimer’s Research UK, will lead a trial of the most promising blood biomarker in tests on 1,100 people in the UK.
In the second study, approximately 4,000 people will be tested for multiple forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies.