Researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed a new tool capable of estimating a person's risk of developing memory and thinking problems associated with Alzheimer's disease years before symptoms appear. The research, published in The Lancet Neurology, is based on decades of data from the Mayo Clinic Study on Aging — one of the most comprehensive population-based brain health studies in the world. The study found that women have a higher lifetime risk of developing dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a transitional stage between healthy aging and dementia that often affects quality of life but still allows people to live independently. New prediction model combines brain amyloid, age, and genetics. The new prediction model combined several factors, such as age, sex, genetic risk associated with the APOE genotype, and levels of amyloid in the brain detected by positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Of all the predictors evaluated, levels of brain amyloid detected on PET scans were the strongest predictor of lifetime risk for both MCI and dementia. The study underscores the importance of MCI, which is the stage targeted by current Alzheimer's drugs that slow, but do not stop, the progression of the disease. Although the new tool is currently a research instrument, it represents a significant step toward more personalized care. The research is distinctive because it is based on the Mayo Clinic Study on Aging, a long-term effort in Olmsted County, Minnesota, that tracks thousands of residents over time. Future versions could incorporate blood-based biomarkers, making testing more accessible. "Ultimately, our goal is to give people more time — time to plan, to act, and to live well before memory problems set in," says Dr. Petersen.
