REAL AD - Validation of a realistic population screening approach for early Alzheimer´s disease

For disease-modifying treatments to be successful, early diagnosis is crucial. This is especially relevant for Alzheimer´s disease (AD) with its protracted preclinical phase.

Healthcare is not equipped for preventive measures such as large-scale AD screening in middle-aged individuals for which coming AD treatment options are most effective.

Groundbreaking recent developments, however, such as blood-based biomarkers for early AD pathophysiology and remotely-administered cognitive tests to detect early cognitive impairment in everyday environments, offer novel, truly scalable and cost-effective ways to screen for cognitive and biomarker changes that indicate preclinical AD already at a primary care level.In collaboration with Västra Götaland Region Primary Health Care, this large prospective study aims to establish the practical feasibility and validate the diagnostic and prognostic performance of a screening approach for preclinical AD.

A population sample of at least 3,000 50-80-year-olds will be examined for preclinical AD using remote cognitive testing and blood biomarker analyses.

The results will be used to stratify a representative subsample that will subsequently undergo longitudinal state-of-the-art clinical, fluid biomarker and neuroimaging assessments in a specialized care setting to validate the initial screening results.The goal of REAL AD is to inform an individualised diagnostic framework for primary care that can significantly improve the prognosis for AD.