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Health Rounds

By Nancy Lapid, Health Science Editor

Hello Health Rounds readers! If you were feeling forgetful, would you want to know you're developing Alzheimer's disease? Researchers attending the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Amsterdam this week report that a simple test to diagnose the brain disease is on the horizon, and at least one survey suggests forgetful seniors might be willing to learn whether they will ultimately develop dementia. We also report on a newly identified gene that protects against COVID-19 symptoms and on a study showing that buying and "flipping" healthcare facilities is profitable for investors but harmful for patients.

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Researchers have discovered a gene that appears to protect people infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from developing symptoms. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji.

Study Rounds

Experimental finger-prick test finds Alzheimer's disease

It may someday be possible to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or monitor the response to treatment with a finger-prick blood test at home or in a primary care provider's office, researchers reported on Wednesday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Amsterdam.

Patients would place a drop of blood onto a card, let it dry and then mail it to a laboratory, where technicians would examine it for Alzheimer's-related biomarkers.

Commercially available blood tests, today used mainly in clinical trials of new drugs for preventing or treating dementia, must be administered by trained personnel and have strict limits on storage and temperature.

"It is currently very difficult for primary care doctors to identify Alzheimer's disease, even among patients with cognitive impairment," Dr. Sebastian Palmqvist of Lund University in Sweden said in a statement. "This too often leads to diagnostic uncertainty and inappropriate treatment."

In a pilot study, 307 adults with signs of cognitive impairment had blood samples collected using the finger-prick test.

Primary care providers who reviewed patients' cognitive test results and brain scans diagnosed Alzheimer's disease correctly in approximately 55% of cases, while the new blood test correctly identified Alzheimer's disease in more than 85%, Palmqvist's team found.

In a separate study presented at the meeting, U.S. researchers surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,242 seniors participating in the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging for their opinions on screening for Alzheimer's disease.

Eighty percent saw a benefit of early-warning cognitive tests showing declines in memory and thinking, and 60% said healthcare providers should offer annual memory tests to older adults.

Only 17% were familiar with Alzheimer's blood tests and fewer than 1% had taken one.

"While further standardization and validation are needed, blood tests may soon be an important piece of the diagnostic workup in everyday practice for detecting and monitoring treatment of Alzheimer's disease," as new drugs that slow down the disease in its early stages become more widely available, Maria Carrillo, Alzheimer's Association chief science officer, said in a statement.

Read more about Alzheimer's disease on Reuters.com

Alzheimer's diagnosis revamp embraces rating scale similar to cancer
Medicare offers details on reimbursement for new Alzheimer's drugs
Lilly drug slows Alzheimer's by 60% for mildly impaired patients in trial
Biogen/Eisai Alzheimer's drug adds cost pressures for Medicare

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Immune system gene prevents COVID-19 symptoms

Researchers have discovered a gene that appears to protect people infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from developing symptoms, according to a paper published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

At least 20% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 do not develop symptoms, and at least some of them remain asymptomatic because they are protected by this newly identified genetic variant, the researchers reported.

Among 1,428 unvaccinated individuals who reported a positive test for SARS-CoV-2, 136 reported having no symptoms - and one in five in that subgroup were found to carry a common variant of a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene that is involved in immune responses.

People carrying two copies of this variant were more than eight times more likely to remain asymptomatic than those carrying other versions of the gene, researchers found.

In a separate study of people who had never been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the researchers also found that in those who carried this genetic variant, earlier exposure to common-cold coronaviruses had "taught" their immune cells to recognize and defend against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

"That extra boost means the immune system can quickly track down and destroy SARS-CoV-2 before it goes haywire trying to defend against the pathogen," study leader Jill Hollenbach of the University of California, San Francisco said in a Nature article that accompanied her team's report.

Selling hospitals to investors hurts quality of care

Healthcare costs and quality of care suffer when investment companies buy hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities to "flip" them a few years later and make a profit, according to a review of private equity purchases published on Wednesday in The BMJ.

Private equity firms are increasingly investing in, acquiring and consolidating healthcare facilities including "safety net" facilities serving disadvantaged populations, with global healthcare buyouts exceeding $200 billion (157 billion pounds/184 billion euros) since 2021 alone, researchers reported.

Based on data from 55 studies published over the past two decades, including 47 from the United States, the researchers found private equity ownership was consistently associated with increases in costs to patients and insurance companies, and mixed to harmful impacts on quality. Sometimes, private equity ownership was associated with reduced nurse staffing levels or use of more lower-skilled nurses.

Overall, the researchers said, they saw "no consistently beneficial impacts of private equity ownership."

An editorial published with the study noted that private equity involvement in healthcare "has drawn considerable criticism from patient advocacy groups, academic researchers and journalists for draining financial resources from healthcare institutions."

Public officials "clearly need new and more effective tools for reviewing and approving the terms of private equity's involvement in healthcare," the editorial added.

This newsletter was edited by Will Dunham.

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