Here at SureCare we were interested to read about a blood test that has been developed that can accurately predict the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

The findings, published in Nature Medicine, showed that testing levels of 10 fats in the blood could determine with 90% accuracy the risk of the disease emerging in the next three years.

Figures show a sharp rise in the number of people affected by dementia globally. A staggering 44 million people now have the condition and this figure is set to rise to 76 million by 2030 and to 135 million by 2050.

Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, already affects one in 14 people over the age of 65, according to the Alzheimer’s Society, and one in six over the age of 80.

Experts at Georgetown University in the United States described the blood test as a “real step forward”.

Doctors believe that drug trials are not working because patients are only being treated when it is too late. The disease attacks the brain silently for more than a decade before symptoms emerge.

This explains why the potential discovery of a test that can help detect a person’s risk of dementia is so important.

News of the blood test comes just a few weeks after reports of a simple 15-minute test can help detect the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

Experts believe that the written test could be used by doctors to catch and treat Alzheimer’s early.

The questions range from simple feats of memory to more complex everyday tasks. Other questions are more open-ended.

The British Government has pledged to double funding for research into dementia to £66million in 2015, while pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has announced a £200million investment to create a “centre of excellence” that will turn breakthroughs in the laboratory into effective drugs to combat the condition.

SureCare’s experienced team of carers are working with many sufferers of Alzheimer’s across the UK, providing them and their families with the care and support they require to be able to continue to live as independently as possible.

Read more about the discovery of the Alzheimer’s blood test.