Should everyone know their personal risk of developing Alzheimer's disease?

Many of the clinicians who are currently using the Alzheimer’s Risk Test, powered by genoSCORE? (ART), offered in the US by our partners at Sampled, have experienced a recent surge in interest driven principally by two key developments in the field.?First, the news in January of the fast-track review and approval by the FDA of Lecanemab (Leqembi), an anti-amyloid drug with disease-modifying potential developed by Eisai and Biogen.?Second, the revelation by the actor Chris Hemsworth (possibly most famous for playing comic strip superhero, Thor) that he has two copies of the APOE4 gene and hence is at increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

These two independent news stories have raised public awareness of the predictive nature of genetics for Alzheimer’s disease and the increasing likelihood of effective treatment becoming a reality. Consequently, the appetite for personal lifetime risk score has grown. This has presented an opportunity to speak about the relative merits of the ART and how it offers a more comprehensive description of genetic risk for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease than APOE alone, most particularly in the non-E4 carrier group.?This is vitally important as around 40% of people with clinically diagnosed AD do not carry E4 at all.??

The ability to accurately predict life-time risk of Alzheimer’s disease using the ART can help to inform and guide future lifestyle and wellbeing decisions or help plan treatment.?Whatever the reason for undertaking the Alzheimer’s Risk Test, the result will enable action.?Knowing a patient’s personal genetic risk helps a clinician assess the importance of encouraging focus on modifiable lifestyle-related risk factors and the use of other clinical interventions.

Knowledge may be as powerful as Thor’s hammer and using it to make life decisions may be its greatest value.