Diagnosis news
What's happening in Alzheimer's care, research funding, and treatment — summarized simply, each item linked to the original reporting.
Free to read, “May need a subscription” and “Archived copy”: what they mean
Whether an article is free to read is a guess, not a test of your access. Each item is one of three:
- No label: free to read (303 of 347). The publisher’s page marks it free, or the outlet publishes free to read: Medical Xpress, ScienceDaily, NIH (incl. NIA and PMC), Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's News Today, NPR, Alzheimer's Disease International, or a .gov site.
- May need a subscription (11 of 347). The publisher’s own page marks the article as not free to read, or — when the page says nothing — the outlet sells subscriptions: The New York Times, STAT, Scientific American, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Wired, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Times, The Telegraph, New Scientist, Endpoints News, Science. Each badge says which.
- “Free to read? Not known” (33 of 347). The outlet is on neither list and its page said nothing. We do not call these paywalled.
Archived copy links go to a copy the Internet Archive (web.archive.org) saved, dated the day it was saved. We show one only where the Internet Archive reported a working saved copy when we checked; an archived copy of a subscription article sometimes shows only its opening. 265 of 347 items have one.
A simple blood test could reveal Alzheimer’s risk 10 years before symptoms
A major international study found that a simple blood test could help predict Alzheimer’s-related cognitive decline years before symptoms appear, with the highest-risk individuals facing a 38% chance of impairment within five years and an estimated 78% chance within 10 years. …
New blood test can detect changes associated with Alzheimer's disease
Brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease can be detected by a new type of blood test -- and a growing number of patients are asking their doctors about it.
Read at NPR →HHS updates National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease
HHS has updated its National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias, shifting the nation’s strategy toward prevention and earlier detection, federal officials said. …
Free to read? Not known for this outlet.
Read at Healio →Added antibody step improves the reliability of Alzheimer's blood tests
Researchers at University Medicine Halle have developed a new method that could improve the reliability of blood tests for Alzheimer's disease. Current commercial tests often rely on the protein biomarker p-tau217, whose levels can rise in the early stages of the disease. …
Read at Medical Xpress →More education reduces dementia risk decades later
A law that required British teenagers to stay in school for an additional year had an unexpected consequence nearly 50 years later: fewer dementia diagnoses.
Read at Medical Xpress →An extra year of secondary school lowered dementia diagnoses later in life
NIH-funded study showed the effect was profound, especially among those at elevated genetic risk.
Read at NIH News Releases → Archived copy (24 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveNew microscopy technology may help detect neurological diseases before neurons die
Scientists studying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases are getting unprecedented views inside brain cells, using powerful new microscopes to uncover changes that may begin long before neurons die. …
Read at Medical Xpress →Two-step blood-test approach helps clarify uncertain brain amyloid status
Blood-based biomarkers (BBMs) are blood tests that can detect Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain changes earlier, more cheaply and more easily than traditional methods such as Aβ-PET scans, which are expensive and have limited accessibility. …
Read at Medical Xpress →Search for Alzheimer's drug unexpectedly finds possible biomarker
Researchers developed a drug for Alzheimer's disease and then discovered that the molecule already exists in human blood and is found at lower levels in cognitively impaired people. Now the authors are exploring the peptide as a biomarker as well as a treatment.
Read at Medical Xpress →Fitness tracker data could offer clues about future brain health
Adults who averaged fewer than 5,000 steps a day were later diagnosed with dementia, Parkinson's disease or stroke at almost twice the rate of those averaging more than 12,000 steps…
Read at Medical Xpress → Archived copy (23 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveGut microbiome could help identify people at risk of dementia
In what is thought to be the first study of its kind, researchers from Cardiff University and Imperial College London examined both gut bacteria and chemicals. Their findings could support earlier diagnosis and help spot people at risk of faster decline.
Read at Medical Xpress → Archived copy (20 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveBrain PET scans help select and monitor patients for new Alzheimer's drugs
Nuclear medicine is playing an increasingly important role in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, helping clinicians visualize the biological changes associated with the condition and guide decisions about new therapies. …
Read at Medical Xpress →Obesity linked to lower mortality risk in dementia
Among people with dementia, having overweight or obesity at the time of diagnosis was associated with a lower risk for mortality, according to research published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. …
Free to read? Not known for this outlet.
Read at Healio → Archived copy (15 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveVisual processing tests could help diagnose some common forms of dementia
The dementia associated with Parkinson's disease could be diagnosed earlier with new visual tests developed by University of Queensland researchers. …
Read at Medical Xpress → Archived copy (15 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveAlzheimer's blood biomarker tracks brain amyloid similarly across racial groups, study finds
A large global study provides new evidence supporting the use of blood biomarkers in an Alzheimer's clinical trial to screen for elevated brain amyloid levels among potential participants who are cognitively unimpaired. …
Read at Medical Xpress → Archived copy (13 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveEarly-onset Alzheimer's disease shows different warning signs from established risk factors
A study by the University of Oulu and the University of Eastern Finland found that people who developed Alzheimer's disease before the age of 65 accumulated a wide range of health problems, particularly during the five years preceding diagnosis. …
Read at Medical Xpress → Archived copy (11 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveImproving early detection of cognitive impairment in primary care
Early detection of cognitive impairment can connect patients with evaluation and treatment sooner, but many screening methods are difficult to incorporate into routine primary care. …
Read at Medical Xpress → Archived copy (7 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveObesity's link to lower risk of death in dementia points to likely importance of nutrition
People who are overweight or obese when they are diagnosed with dementia are likely to live longer than those in a normal weight range, according to a new study by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and NYU School of Global Public Health. …
Read at Medical Xpress → Archived copy (7 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveScientists develop high-resolution molecular maps of Alzheimer’s and related brain disorders
NIH-funded effort delivers new insights into symptoms and underlying mechanisms of these conditions to improve prevention, detection, treatment, and outcomes.
Early statin use linked to 15% lower dementia risk
Starting statins soon after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis may do more than protect the heart. In a nationwide Danish study of more than 132,000 people…
Read at ScienceDaily → Archived copy (18 Sep 2026), Internet ArchiveAlzheimer’s may leave a mark on the brain long before plaques appear
Brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s may begin at least seven years before amyloid plaques become detectable with current PET scans. Researchers uncovered the signal by tracking healthy older adults with repeated brain imaging over nearly 20 years. …
Read at ScienceDaily → Archived copy (16 Sep 2026), Internet ArchiveFDA Clears C2N Diagnostics' PrecivityAD2 — First Alzheimer's Blood Test for Adults With Cognitive Symptoms as Young as 40
The FDA cleared C2N Diagnostics' PrecivityAD2 mass-spectrometry blood test for adults as young as 40 with signs of cognitive impairment, showing 97.6% positive predictive value and 93.1% negative predictive value for amyloid pathology in a 1,142-person study.
Why it matters: Extends FDA-cleared blood testing to younger patients with early symptoms, broadening options beyond the Fujirebio test and expanding access to earlier, less invasive diagnosis.
Free to read? Not known for this outlet.
Read at C2N Diagnostics (via BioSpace) → Archived copy (7 Oct 2026), Internet ArchiveA surprising blood protein pattern may reveal Alzheimer’s
A new study suggests Alzheimer’s disease may be detectable through subtle shape changes in proteins found in the blood. Researchers discovered that structural differences in three blood proteins closely track the progression of the disease. …
Read at ScienceDaily → Archived copy (23 Sep 2026), Internet ArchiveSimple blood test can forecast Alzheimer’s years before memory loss
Scientists have created a blood test that can estimate when Alzheimer’s symptoms are likely to begin. By measuring a protein called p-tau217, the model predicts symptom onset within roughly three to four years. …
A silent brain disease can quadruple dementia risk
Researchers studying nearly 2 million older adults found that cerebral amyloid angiopathy sharply raises the risk of developing dementia. Within five years, people with the condition were far more likely to be diagnosed than those without it. …
Read at ScienceDaily →Researchers explore new diagnostic tools, genetic roots for early-onset dementia
Researchers at the new Center for Brain Health at UT Health San Antonio are studying midlife testing for early-onset dementia with blood-based biomarkers to see if they can detect disease activity up to 20 years before symptoms appear.
Why it matters: Midlife blood-based biomarker testing is being studied to see if it can detect early-onset dementia activity up to 20 years before symptoms appear.
Read at Medical Xpress → Archived copy (27 Jan 2026), Internet ArchiveA simple blood test could change how Alzheimer's is diagnosed
A blood test, combined with an ultrathin material derived from graphite, could significantly advance efforts to detect Alzheimer's disease at its very earliest stage, even before symptoms appear.
Why it matters: Combining a blood test with an ultrathin graphite-derived material could advance efforts to detect Alzheimer's disease before symptoms appear.
Read at Medical Xpress →Study finds ongoing under-diagnosis of high blood pressure in people over 50 in Ireland
High blood pressure becomes more common after age 40, yet new research from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) at Trinity College Dublin shows that many people in Ireland with hypertension are still not optimally diagnosed or treated based on European Guidelines. …
Why it matters: New research shows many people over 50 in Ireland with high blood pressure are still not optimally diagnosed or treated based on European Guidelines.
Read at Medical Xpress → Archived copy (4 Feb 2026), Internet ArchiveA hidden brain signal may reveal Alzheimer’s long before diagnosis
Researchers have discovered a brain activity pattern that can predict which people with mild cognitive impairment are likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. …
Read at ScienceDaily → Archived copy (18 Sep 2026), Internet ArchivePlasma p-tau217 can reliably detect preclinical Alzheimer disease
Plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) can reliably detect Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology in the preclinical stage, according to a meta-analysis published online Dec. 1 in JAMA Neurology.
Why it matters: Plasma phosphorylated tau 217 can reliably detect Alzheimer disease pathology in the preclinical stage, according to a meta-analysis.
Follow new items in a feed reader: Atom feed.