Research study details

Summary

What is the study about?

Dementia is becoming a bigger problem in the UK and may affect more than half the population. New drugs have been developed to treat Alzheimer's disease, which is the main cause of dementia, but expensive and invasive tests are needed to prove that a patient has Alzheimer's disease. Recently, blood tests that look for certain natural molecules (called biomarkers) have shown promise in detecting signs of dementia and assessing the risk for developing dementia in ageing adults.

In this study, we will look at how good blood tests for dementia are in supporting a dementia diagnosis and how well they work in people from different backgrounds and with different medical conditions. We will also look at whether the blood tests are good value for money for the NHS.

Who is it for?

We are inviting people who have been diagnosed with a cognitive or memory disorder (such as Alzheimer's disease, any other type of dementia or mild cognitive impairment) or who are currently being assessed for any type of cognitive or memory problems.

What are we trying to find out?

We want to find out how good dementia blood tests are in supporting a dementia diagnosis and how well they work in people from different backgrounds and with different medical conditions.

We also want to find out whether the blood tests are good value for money for the NHS.

What does taking part involve?

You will be asked to provide a single blood sample of 20 mL, roughly the same as 1.5 tablespoons and answer some questions about yourself and your medical history.

We will ask you to complete a questionnaire about your feelings toward dementia diagnosis and whether blood tests may be a useful tool for your medical care.

We will analyse the blood samples to look at the levels of proteins and your genetic makeup and link this to your study information. We will not be able to share the individual results with you.

With your permission, we will also keep parts of the blood samples for future researchers to look at.

This study includes monitoring through your clinical notes or information gained from NHS registries (such as NHS England / NHS Central Register). We will link your study information to the information collected by your GP and NHS hospital doctors over the study duration. We will use this information to see if the blood tests are a good way to predict what happens to you in terms of your physical and mental health.

You may also have the option to participate in up to three optional sub-studies.

In the optional sub-studies, you may be asked to:

Return in 1-2 weeks to give a further 20 mL sample of blood (approximately 1.5 tablespoons). The sample will be processed after some delay. This will allow us to check what the maximum delay to processing samples is.

You may be asked to return in 12 months to give a further 20mL sample of blood (approximately 1.5 tablespoons). This will allow us to check how stable the blood tests for dementia are over a short period of time.

You may be asked to provide a few drops of blood using a finger prick and a blood spot card (similar to how people with diabetes check their blood sugar levels). We will then give you a blood spot card to repeat the same finger prick sample at home and give you a pre-paid envelope to send it back to us. This experiment will allow us to check if blood spot cards are a good alternative to having blood taken in clinic.