The simple blood test that can predict Alzheimer’s decline

Alzheimer’sThe decline could be predicted with a simple blood test Already offered to those who risk type 2 diabetes.

THE disease is the most common type of dementia, with symptoms such as confusion, speech problems and language, displacement problems and behavioral changes.

About a million people in the United Kingdom are Live with dementiaBut this figure is planned to reach 1.4 million By 2040, the United Kingdom of Alzheimer’s warns.

There is currently no cure for the disease or any definitive means of predicting the speed with which it will progress, only drugs to help relieve some of the symptoms.

However, the research presented at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress 2025 suggests that a blood test used to detect insulin resistance could also identify patients at high risk of cognitive decline.

Neurologists from the University of Brescia, Italy, analyzed the data of 315 non -diabetic patients with cognitive deficits – which included 200 people with Alzheimer’s disease.

All participants were tested for insulin resistance using the triglyceride -glucose (Tyg) index – a low -cost marker and widely available calculated from standard blood test. They were then followed three years later.

Participants were divided into groups of variable cognitive disabilities and also separated according to their insulin resistance score.

Among those who have a slight cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease, individuals with the highest TYG scores have decreased four times faster than those with lower tyg levels – but this link was not observed in the group with a cognitive impairment not caused by Alzheimer.

“Once light cognitive disorders are diagnosed, families are still asking for how quickly it is progressing,” said Dr. Bianca Gumina.

“Our data show that a simple metabolic marker available in each hospital laboratory can help identify more vulnerable subjects that can be appropriate candidates for targeted therapy or specific intervention strategies.”

It is believed that insulin resistance alters the absorption of glucose in the brainWhich means that it is less active.

This can cause increased inflammation of the brain to disrupt the blood -brain barrier and contribute to amyloid accumulation – a protein that can form toxic plates in the brain – which are all linked to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Although inflammation is the defense mechanism of the body which responds to damage and infections to keep us healthy, too many good things can have consequences, explains Alzheimer’s research.

When these toxic proteins accumulate in people with Alzheimer’s, the brain fights with an inflammatory response to maintain damage remotely. But that should cause more damage.

“We were surprised to see the effect only in the spectrum of Alzheimer’s and not in other neurodegenerative diseases,” noted Dr. Gumina.

She suggested that this underlines that there is a “specific vulnerability to disease” to insulin resistance and interventions could change the trajectory of the disease.

The researchers also found that high-insulin resistance was associated with a disruption of the blood-brain barrier and cardiovascular risk factors, but these were not associated with an increased risk of progression of Alzheimer.

We hope that these results could help detect Alzheimer’s patients who are at a high risk of cognitive decline early and register them at more targeted clinical trials – such as anti -amyloid trials.

This blood test could also be used to do timely interventions to improve their sensitivity to insulin.

“If the targeting of metabolism can delay progression, we will have an easily modifiable target which works alongside drugs modifying emerging diseases,” concluded Dr. Gumina.

Researchers are currently examining whether insulin resistance levels also follow with neuroimperie biomarkers – brain scanners who indicate the structure, function and chemistry of the organ as well as the diagnosis of neurological conditions.