Researchers looking at urine test to detect Alzheimer's disease

Doctors may be able to diagnose Alzheimer's disease with urine test

BOSTON - One day, doctors may be able to diagnose Alzheimer's disease with a simple urine test.

Currently, diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's disease involve blood tests, spinal taps, and expensive brain scans involving radiation.

But researchers in China studied 574 people with varying degrees of cognitive function and found formic acid in the urine of people with mild symptoms.

They say one day this simple, inexpensive urine test could be used on a large large-scale to diagnose and screen people for Alzheimer's disease early on when treatment might still provide some benefit.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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