Study: Brain Damage Can Be Detected 25 Years Earlier Than This Blood Test

Illustration of headaches (Photo: Freepic / rookie_studio)

JAKARTA - A recent study reveals quite surprising findings. Simple blood tests were apparently able to predict the risk of brain damage up to 25 years before a person was actually diagnosed with cognitive or dementia disorders.

Reporting from the New York Post on Saturday, November 22, 2025, brain damage related to dementia usually develops slowly over the decades. This disease affects the ability to think, remember, communicate, and solve problems.

Therefore, early detection is very important so that a person can take preventive steps, plan the future, and maintain quality of life.

The study was published in the European Heart Journal and focuses on examining heart troponine levels, proteins released when the heart muscle is damaged. Interestingly, this protein content is closely related to future brain health.

In the study, nearly 6,000 middle-aged adults in the UK underwent a tropical test after experiencing minor damage to the heart muscle. The researchers then monitored their cognitive function for about two decades.

The results are quite clear. Participants with high troponine levels (more than 5.2 nanograms per liter) show a faster decrease in brain function when entering advanced age.

Those with higher levels of tropical matter are also recorded to have fewer gray matter (grey matter) volumes. This part of the brain plays an important role in processing information, learning, and memory. The risk of brain shrinkage increased by 18% in participants with high levels of troponine.

If you look at participants who are finally diagnosed with dementia, their troponine levels have been recorded to be high since seven years before symptoms are detected. These findings open up opportunities for brain damage to actually be recognized long before a person feels the signs.

Currently, technological developments such as blood tests, functional MRI, and various cognitive tests have allowed predictions of the risk of dementia up to 10 years before symptoms appear. However, Troponine tests hope that detection can be done even earlier, up to a quarter of a century earlier.

However, there is no definite way to prevent brain damage or dementia. However, reducing risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and hearing loss can help reduce the chances of developing this disease.

This research is not only a medical finding, but also an important reminder of maintaining heart and brain health is interrelated. Blood tests commonly used to detect heart attacks now have the potential to be an important tool in predicting brain health in the future.