Researcher Deborah Barnes - of the University of California (UC), San Francisco - and colleagues have developed a noteworthy 15-point checklist for people above 65 years for accurate prediction of the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease within a six-year period.

Reporting about the singular index online in journal Neurology, Barnes said that the checklist includes both past-known and newly-identified risk factors for the Alzheimer’s conditions. These include the commonly-known factors - like advanced age, low scores on tests of thinking skills, and the presence of ApoE4 gene – and some lesser-known factors, being underweight, history of heart bypass surgery, being teetotaler, and slow in doing the easiest of physical tasks.

Barnes said that the index had 88 percent success-rate for accurate classification of patients as per their risk of developing dementia within six years. He further elaborated saying that over half of patients – 56 percent - who scored high on the index developed some form of dementia, as against the 4.2 percent with low score as well as the 22.8 percent who fell in the in-between score range.

Saying that the 15-point tool can be useful both for doctors keep an eye on patients and for companies to develop the requisite drugs, Barnes said: “This new risk index could be very important both for research and for people at risk of developing dementia and their families.”