For many years, diagnosing an incurable type of Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, has been a very complex diagnosis. Often relying on various cognitive tests, brain scans, and spinal taps. However, recent discoveries and advances in blood testing are offering a promising step in the right direction for earlier and more accessible detection.
Researchers have been focusing on identifying specific biomarkers in the blood that may indicate Alzheimer’s pathology in the brain, such as amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Alzheimer’s disease is a type of neurodegenerative disease and a type of dementia. The disease is characterized by pathological deposition of amyloid plaques/deposits and tau tangles within the brain parenchyma, causing irreversible cognitive impairment and memory loss.
With Alzheimer’s Disease commonly misdiagnosed, as well as knowing that the disease itself can begin about 15-20 years before the diagnosis, it is important to identify individuals with the disease years before cognitive decline.
Last year, in May 2025, the fight against Alzheimer’s disease had a giant breakthrough. The U.S Food and Drug Administration approved the first blood test to be used as a tool to help identify Alzheimer’s disease early on. The blood test is called the Lumipulse.
Studies have shown that the Lumipulse test can be over 90% accurate when detecting Alzheimer’s symptoms. However, this test is still being refined and can’t diagnose Alzheimer’s disease on its own; it is meant to be part of an evaluation for Alzheimer’s disease, including physical and medical history and imaging scans of the brain.
A 2025 study found a possible relation between the brain makeup of people with ADHD and that of individuals who develop dementia. Using a combination of MRI brain imaging and blood tests, the researchers at the University of Geneva compared 32 adults with ADHD to 29 adults without ADHD (in both cases, aged between 25 and 45 years).
What they found was that the ADHD adults had more iron in certain regions of their brain, along with higher levels of neurofilaments in their blood, both of which are markers for dementia and Alzheimer’s. While it was a small case study, it still helps pave the way for further research to determine if a reduction of iron levels in the brain of a person with ADHD could reduce the likelihood of developing dementia, especially Alzheimer’s, later on in life.
In 2025, we saw the first drug join the market to prevent/slow down Alzheimer’s. Donanemab and lecanemab can both block harmful proteins in the brain and can slow decline by around 30%, according to reports in The Guardian. The Alzheimer’s Society found that the drugs could slow down disease progression by 60% if given at an early stage. But other research shows less reliable helpfulness of the drug, with a UK trial of lecanemab finding that patients were better off by only 0.45 points on an 18-point scale. Though these drugs were also said to be too expensive based on the controversy around how much they really prevented.
