Blood-Based Biomarkers May Predict Behavioral Issues In Older Asian Adults With Varied Neuropathology, Study Finds

Healio (3/13, Herpen) reports a study found that an “analysis of blood-based biomarkers may be a reliable method to predict behavioral issues in older populations of Asian descent with varied neuropathology.” Researchers found that “higher baseline biomarkers were linked to increased severity of neuropsychiatric conditions.” They also reported “higher p-tau181 levels were associated with a higher likelihood of incident MBI in the 16 individuals found to have incident dementia prior to onset of behavioral symptoms.” They concluded, “Given that p-tau181/amyloid-beta 42 ratio has taken into consideration of both amyloid and phosphorylated tau levels, this biomarker could potentially be a more sensitive marker for screening [mild behavioral impairment] in cohorts of diverse clinical profiles.” The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.