Des Moines, IA (Radio Iowa)– A new advance in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease is being unveiled at a medical conference in Amsterdam and an Iowa physician who is there calls it a very exciting development.

Dr. Yogesh Shah says a simple finger prick blood test similar to what is used for diabetes is showing some promise.

Dr. Shah says this streamlined test may help detect Alzheimer’s both at home or in a doctor’s office and indications are the test is more than 80-percent accurate, but how soon could be available?

It is estimated there are 66,000 Iowans living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia and another 98,000 Iowans are their caregivers. A report out this week says the average Alzheimer’s prevalence rate in Iowans age 65 and older is 11%, while the rate is even higher in northwest Iowa.