Category: Health
Blood-based tests for Alzheimer’s disease are becoming increasingly available, but experts at a global dementia roundtable warned that new diagnostic tools alone will not solve longstanding challenges in dementia care systems. The discussion, organized by the World Dementia Council and the Alzheimer’s Society, brought together researchers, clinicians, policy leaders and patient advocates to examine how biomarkers can be integrated into real-world healthcare settings.
Participants at the “Biomarker Translation: From Innovation to Implementation” roundtable said healthcare systems in countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and across Europe remain poorly prepared to fully benefit from advances in Alzheimer’s diagnostics. In Canada, the blood test p-tau217 is already available through LifeLabs and Dynacare, but access remains limited because testing must be ordered by clinicians and is generally not covered by provincial health plans such as OHIP or British Columbia’s MSP. As a result, patients often face out-of-pocket costs or limited access through specialized memory clinics.
Clinicians emphasized that p-tau217 is not used as a standalone diagnostic tool. Instead, it supports physicians in distinguishing Alzheimer’s disease from other forms of dementia, estimating amyloid presence in the brain and reducing the need for more invasive procedures such as PET scans or spinal taps. Experts noted that biomarker results must still be interpreted alongside symptoms, cognitive assessments and imaging tests when necessary.
The roundtable highlighted broader structural issues in dementia care. In the United Kingdom, dementia diagnosis can take an average of three-and-a-half years, while only about two-thirds of patients ever receive a diagnosis. Canada faces similar problems, including fragmented healthcare delivery, specialist shortages and long wait times. Experts warned that adding biomarker testing into already strained systems without redesigning care pathways could increase healthcare costs without improving patient outcomes.
Several speakers pointed to primary care-led models as a potential solution. Jeff Burns of the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre described how Kansas shifted dementia diagnosis toward family doctors supported by electronic medical record tools, online training and rapid access to blood-based biomarker testing. Specialist clinics were refocused on complex cases and long-term treatment management. The program enabled more than 2,500 biomarker tests to be ordered in a year by 188 clinicians, more than half working in primary care, while also increasing specialist clinic capacity by roughly 50% without expanding staffing levels.
Researchers from the University of Oxford and the Alzheimer Centre Amsterdam also stressed that successful biomarker adoption depends heavily on clinician training, ethical oversight and updated clinical guidelines. Vanessa Raymont of Oxford noted that many patients with abnormal biomarker results may not yet qualify for treatment but still require counselling, monitoring and follow-up support. Meanwhile, Argonde van Harten’s team in Amsterdam found that improvements in testing combinations and decision rules increased diagnostic confidence and altered care plans for around 20% of patients.
Experts at the roundtable cautioned against introducing widespread population screening too quickly, citing lessons from cancer screening programs where over-diagnosis created unintended harm. While blood-based biomarkers are viewed as promising tools for improving early Alzheimer’s detection, participants agreed they should currently be used primarily for symptomatic patients and to support — rather than replace — clinical judgment.
Source: https://healthydebate.ca/2026/05/topic/blood-tests-alzheimers-canada-isnt-ready