A new blood test that can identify signs of Alzheimer’s disease decades before symptoms appear is 94 percent accurate.
Researchers say that checks could be available at GP surgeries "within a few years".
At present its main benefit will be to help understand the development of the disease, for which there is as yet no cure. But it will also identify people who can take part in clinical trials of new drugs.
The test identifies the build-up of damaging clumps of protein in the brain, a hallmark of the disease, long before the characteristic memory loss and confusion of Alzheimer’s set in.