A large multicentre study led by Lund University in Sweden has successfully tested a simpler method for analysing blood samples to detect Alzheimer’s disease.

“This marks a major advancement in making blood tests for Alzheimer’s more accessible within global healthcare systems,” said the research team.

Key highlights:

• The test measures a blood-based biomarker known as P-tau217, which can begin to change years before Alzheimer’s symptoms appear.

• This biomarker can now be measured using a simpler and more cost-effective method.

• The new, fully automated approach showed accuracy comparable to more complex methods, such as mass spectrometry.

• The study was conducted across Sweden, Italy, and Spain, involving 1,767 individuals with cognitive symptoms.

• Accuracy remained above 90% across age, gender, comorbidities, and regardless of whether the test was administered in primary care or specialized memory clinics.

Previous studies validated the effectiveness of P-tau217 testing using advanced techniques, which are already in use in the U.S. and expected to roll out globally. The new study aimed to test whether a simplified method could maintain similar levels of accuracy in real-world clinical settings.

The analysis was performed at memory clinics and primary care centers in Malmö and Gothenburg (Sweden), Brescia (Italy), and Barcelona (Spain).

“This simpler test still yields highly reliable results when detecting Alzheimer’s pathology,” said Sebastian Palmqvist, senior lecturer at Lund University and consultant at Skåne University Hospital, who co-led the study with Professor Oskar Hansson.

Researchers applied a two-threshold approach to interpret results: samples above the upper threshold indicated a positive result (suggesting Alzheimer’s), while those below the lower threshold were negative. Values between the thresholds were considered inconclusive and not analyzed further.

“When we tested the method in patient groups, it delivered 92–94% accuracy,” said Noëlle Warmenhoven, researcher and co-author. “This suggests it could become one of the most commonly used diagnostic tools in clinical practice, including in Sweden.”

Slightly lower accuracy (83–87%) was observed in the oldest participants when only a single cut-off point was used. However, this drop was not present when the two-threshold approach was applied.

Palmqvist explained, “While we noticed a dip in accuracy among older individuals using just one cut-off, the two-threshold model maintained performance.”

This streamlined method could make Alzheimer’s blood testing feasible even in smaller hospitals.

“By increasing access to accurate diagnostics worldwide, this test has the potential to significantly improve early detection, especially since many cases are currently misdiagnosed due to limited access to biomarkers,” added Hansson.

Source: https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/more-opportunities-test-alzheimers-using-new-analytical-method#:~:text=A%20simpler%20method%20of%20analysing,the%20researchers%20behind%20the%20study.