Saliva may someday lead to early detection of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Preliminary findings from a small study presented Sunday at the annual Alzheimer's Association International Conference going on now in Washington, D.C., suggests saliva could be used to differentiate between people who age normally, those with Alzheimer's and patients with what's known as mild cognitive impairment, which may or may not develop into Alzheimer's.
Early detection of Alzheimer's has remained a challenge because the disease is still not fully understood. The ability to identify Alzheimer's in its early stages, before a patient begins to experience deterioration of their cognitive function, could lead to earlier intervention by providers.
Researchers at the University of Alberta, Canada studied 22 people with Alzheimer's disease, 35 undergoing normal aging and 25 with mild cognitive impairment. They were able to make a distinction among the three groups studied through the use of a technology called chromatography-mass spectrometry, which analyzed saliva samples that found links between cognitive ability decline and the higher levels of certain substances.
“Saliva is easily obtained, safe and affordable, and has promising potential for predicting and tracking cognitive decline, but we're in the very early stages of this work and much more research is needed,” said Shraddha Sapkota, a neuroscience graduate student at the University of Alberta who led the study. “Equally important is the possibility of using saliva to find targets for treatment to address the metabolic component of Alzheimer's, which is still not well understood. This study brings us closer to solving that mystery.”
Current diagnosis still largely relies on identifying symptoms of cognitive decline in a patient. The problem is that by the time a patient starts to exhibit symptoms, the disease may have progressed to more advanced stages. That could render treatments geared toward slowing the effects less effective.
Calls for earlier detection of the disease have grown louder in recent years as the number of Americans with Alzheimer's has increased. It is estimated there are more than 5 million cases in the U.S., according to the Alzheimer's Association.
Experts say without significant breakthroughs that lead to viable treatment, the prevalence of Alzheimer's will increase as the country's elderly population rises.
According to a new analysis presented at the AAIC, it is projected that more than 28 million baby boomers are expected to develop Alzheimer's between now and 2050. That number is expected to consume $328 billion by 2040, which is close to a quarter of all Medicare spending.
