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IMAGE: Schematic illustration of how brain imaging resp. cerebrospinal fluid measures the accumulation of amyloid protein.
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Credit: The research team.
The two used methods for detecting amyloid pathology in Alzheimer's disease do not give unambiguous results, with the risk of incorrect or delayed care interventions. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found genetic explanations for the differences. The study is published in
Molecular Psychiatry and may be important for more individual diagnostics and the development of future drugs.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common dementia disease and leads to gradual memory loss and premature death. Approximately 120,000 people in Sweden have Alzheimer's and there are approximately 50 million people worldwide. According to Hjärnfonden, the number will increase by 70 percent in 50 years, partly because we are living longer and longer.