Study: People don’t care about Alzheimer’s disease biomarker data

Is it safe to share Alzheimer’s disease biomarker results with older people without cognitive impairment?

According to a survey, at least in the short term, the answer seems to be “yes” Anti-amyloid treatment in asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (A4) Candidate for clinical trial.

Elderly people who found elevated amyloid levels did not experience short-term depression, anxiety, or suicidal tendencies than those who found that they did not. Joshua Grill, PhD, and JAMA Neurology..

Assessments 42-57 days after disclosure of amyloid results showed similar mean changes Old age depression scale Score (0.02 vs. 0.04, P= 0.90), National characteristic anxiety inventory Score (-0.02 vs -0.15, P= 0.65), and Colombia Suicide Rating Scale Score (0.0 vs -0.01, P= 0.67) Between those without amyloid and those with high amyloid.

“This study is a key element of a larger global effort to change the way we diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease,” said Grill.

“I hope one day, older people will be tested for the risk of developing dementia and begin treatment to stop memory problems,” Grille said. MedPage today. “Studying the safety and other implications of informing people is just as important as researching new drugs that we want to use to treat them.”

This could be the largest study to date to provide biomarker information for Alzheimer’s disease to older people without cognitive impairment, and was the first to be done at many research sites, Grill added. “At least in the short term, a rigorous process for sharing this information could be safely implemented if it was implemented by a specialized clinician who carefully educated the patient and provided additional training on how to prepare for the patient.” I know you can do it.”

The study’s disclosure process was “very well-designed, with some sessions of education, confirmation that disclosure was still desirable, and additional monitoring of potentially risky participants,” UNSW, Sydney. Brian And Raper, MBBS, MD said. Who was not involved in this study, but who studied suicide risk in the elderly?

“It’s promising that there will be no difference between positive and negative results at 1-2 months follow-up, but in terms of the risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide, these results, especially suicidal behaviour, are more likely. Because of this, the number of services that “starts to appear after more than 3 months,” especially after contact with health, or in this case research, will decrease. MedPage today.

“The results at 3, 6 and 12 months are interesting and will be more informative of the potential risks,” he added.

In their study, Grill et al. investigated cognitively normal older adults screened for the A4 multisite randomized clinical trial from April 2014 to December 2017. A4 is a phase III trial of the anti-amyloid drug solanezumab in people who meet preclinical criteria for Alzheimer’s disease.

Participants underwent amyloid PET scans, learning outcomes from researchers using pre-clinical education about Alzheimer’s disease and using protocol-specific processes including psychological assessment.

It includes a total of 1,167 elevated amyloid levels and 538 participants without elevated amyloid levels. The average age of the participants was about 72. 60.1% were female and 94.5% were white.

Short-term depression, anxiety, and suicide tendency scores were similar, but the groups differed in the other two measures. More people had elevated amyloid levels Concerns about Alzheimer’s disease Score (the raw change in score for the elevated amyloid group was 0.8, while the score for the non-elevated group was -0.4, P<0.001). And those who did not have elevated amyloid levels experienced a slight increase Future time outlook Score (Average score 1.15 points, P<0.001), there was no change in the time outlook among those who had a result of elevated amyloid (mean score 0.33 points).

“These results represent an important milestone,” Grill said. “But it is necessary to study the long-term effects (both positive and negative) of providing this information to people who may have had 10 or 15 years before memory problems occur. there is.

This is especially important, as a previous study of 50 participants in the A4 trial showed that about 20% of participants had elevated amyloid levels. Consider suicide or death by doctor If they experience a decline in cognitive function or are a burden to others.

The findings highlight the importance of longitudinal evaluation of the psychological consequences gathered in court, the researchers said. The A4 trial “is the first of its kind and requires much more data in a cohort of future people, including more diverse people and possibly younger age groups,” Grille said. It was