Epigenetic Biomarkers in Pre-symptomatic and Diagnosed Dementia

Diagnosing dementia is a very long and complex process, and there is no way to accurately determine who will get dementia. This thesis aimed to determine whether a blood test could be used to diagnose dementia and predict future risk. It was found that people with dementia have different small molecules attached to their DNA (‘DNA methylation’) in their blood, not only at the time of diagnosis, but also many years before they had dementia symptoms. These findings provide some of the first evidence that a simple blood test may help in diagnosing dementia, even before symptoms occur.