Mayo Clinic researchers in Rochester, Minn., said that blood tests could be a new way to detect Alzheimer’s disease. This strategy could be helpful toward getting people with the disease adequate Alzheimer’s care. According to the study, researchers analyzed plasma and brain fluid from 45 people, 15 of whom had cognitive impairments and 15 who had Alzheimer’s disease. The remaining 15 subjects were healthy patients with no known disorders. Results showed that plasma fluid in those who had Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline was different than those patients who were healthy. They concluded that blood tests were a reliable source for finding these differences.

“We want to use these biomarkers to diagnose the Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms appear – which can be decades before people start exhibiting memory loss,” Dr. Eugenia Trushina, Mayo Clinic pharmacologist, said in a press release. “The earlier we can detect the disease, the better treatment options we will be able to offer.”

According to CBS Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic had conducted a previous study that found a 15 year window between when Alzheimer’s starts to when memory loss begins, and scientists think that both of these studies will be helpful in the future of diagnosing patients.