Mayo Clinic Study Continues to Refine Most Effective Methods to Predict Alzheimers Disease

A new Mayo Clinic study found that the clinical criteria for mild cognitive impairment is better at predicting who will develop Alzheimers disease than a single memory test. This is one more piece of information to aid in the identification and early treatment of individuals most likely to develop Alzheimers disease. This study will be presented at the Alzheimers Association International Conference on Alzheimers Disease on July XX in Vienna.

Alzheimers disease is a degenerative disorder of the brain in which nerve cells die over time, resulting in a steady loss of memory and other thinking abilities. An estimated 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimers disease, and it is the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S. Mild cognitive impairment is a transitional state between normal aging and the earliest features of Alzheimers disease.

The goal of this research is to try to predict who is going to develop Alzheimers disease in the future, says Ronald Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., a neurologist at Mayo Clinic and the lead author of this study. Ideally, we'd like to identify individuals before any damage is done in the brain. The sooner we intervene on this process with medications or other therapies, the greater impact we can have on lessening the number of people who will ultimately develop Alzheimers disease.

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