Researchers warn social media driving harmful misuse of Alzheimer’s blood tests

A person can test positive for the biological markers of Alzheimer’s disease but they may not ever go on to develop the clinical symptoms of dementia. Photograph: Andrew Brookes/Getty Images/Image Source

Researchers have warned that social media may be misleading healthy people into taking Alzheimer’s blood tests, causing severe anxiety over biological markers that may never actually cause dementia.

Blood-based biomarker tests, including p-tau217 and p-tau181, detect biological signs of changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease, which is a progressive brain disorder and the leading cause of dementia.