According to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, a simple urine test can reveal if someone has early-stage Alzheimer′s disease. This can pave the way for an inexpensive and convenient disease screening. In the study, the researchers found that urinary formic acid is a sensitive marker of subjective cognitive decline that may indicate the very early stages of Alzheimer′s disease.

Currently, diagnostic techniques for detecting Alzheimer′s disease include expensive positron emission tomography brain scans that expose the patient to radiation. Sometimes biomarker tests can be used to reveal Alzheimer′s disease, but these tests require invasive blood draws or a lumbar puncture to obtain cerebrospinal fluid, which can be off-putting for patients.

For the study, a total of 574 participants were enrolled. The participants were either healthy volunteers with normal cognition or had differing degrees of disease progression, ranging from subjective cognitive decline to fully-fledged disease. The findings of the study revealed that urinary formic acid levels were significantly increased in all the Alzheimer′s groups, including the early-stage subjective cognitive decline group.

Additionally, the researchers also claimed that when they analyzed urinary formic levels in combination with blood-based Alzheimer′s biomarkers, they were able to accurately predict the stage of the disease that a patient was experiencing. 

(Source: https://daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=1024666 )