The Critical Need for Timely Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis: Elevating Neurologist Perspectives

Sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company

The Growing Burden of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) deeply affects patients’ lives—impacting memory, independence, decision-making, and relationships—while placing emotional and logistical strain on families and caregivers. The burden extends beyond the clinic, affecting daily routines, relationships, and long-term planning.¹

This growing crisis is underscored by the scale of the disease: an estimated 7.2 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2025, and that number is expected to double to almost 14 million by 2060.¹ This dramatic rise is driven by an aging population and underscores the urgent need for scalable, efficient diagnostic and referral pathways that can support earlier detection and intervention.

While the vast majority of initial dementia diagnoses are made by primary care physicians (PCPs), studies have found that 50% or more of patients with Alzheimer’s dementia are not diagnosed until the moderate or advanced stage.¹ As the burden of AD grows, so does the imperative to act early.

New Survey Results Reinforce Neurologists’ Perspectives on Early Detection and Diagnostic Tools in AD Care

To gather insights and perspectives from neurologists actively engaged in using advanced diagnostics and treatments for AD, The Link Group, an independent market research agency, conducted the national Alzheimer’s Disease Landscape Neurologist Survey on behalf of Eli Lilly and Company, between October 24 and November 11, 2024.

Of the 321 neurologist members of MedSurvey’s physician community who participated in the survey:

• 215 had prescribed an amyloid-targeting therapy (ATT)
• 200 self-characterized as very or extremely familiar with ATTs
• 282 described themselves as very or extremely open to prescribing ATTs

Newly released responses from the survey highlights that nearly all ATT-prescribing neurologists believe early diagnosis significantly impacts patient outcomes and that biomarker tools play a vital role—even when symptoms are subtle. According to the Alzheimer’s Disease Landscape Neurologist Survey:

• 98% of ATT-prescribing neurologists surveyed believe that early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is critical for a patient’s future disease outlook.
• 96% of all neurologists surveyed believe biomarker tools, such as amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) scans or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis, can help confirm Alzheimer’s disease pathology, even when symptoms are subtle.

Why Early Detection and Timely Diagnosis Matter

The timeliness of dementia detection and diagnosis can profoundly impact the quality of life and care trajectory for affected individuals and their families.¹

Early detection of cognitive impairment opens up crucial opportunities that can make a substantial difference in outcomes. This includes the ability to plan for future care needs, participate in clinical trials, access FDA-approved disease-modifying therapies and therapies for symptom management, make informed decisions about medical, financial and legal matters, and pursue appropriate services and supports.¹ Additionally, nearly 80% of Americans want to know if they have AD before symptoms interfere with daily life, and 91% would take a blood biomarker test if it were available, according to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2025 annual survey.¹

“If you identify a cognitive issue early, you open the door to having more options in terms of both potential medical treatments and practical steps, like increased supervision and medication management,” explained Dr. Douglas Scharre, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center for Cognitive and Memory Disorders. “Early identification is very helpful because it can potentially improve patients’ quality of life and reduce healthcare costs.”

Today, cutting-edge diagnostics such as biomarker testing, including blood and CSF testing, and PET scans, allow clinicians to confidently identify the presence of amyloid plaques and tau tangles. While each method offers unique benefits, blood biomarker testing is emerging as a faster, less invasive, and potentially more accessible option to help aid in early diagnosis.

In fact, 87% of all neurologists surveyed in the Alzheimer’s Disease Landscape Neurologist Survey believe that blood biomarkers are becoming a convenient way to aid in diagnosing AD and identifying disease pathology.

The Critical Role of PCPs in Driving Early Detection & Connecting Patients with Specialized Care

Primary care providers (PCPs) are often the first to observe cognitive changes in patients, making them essential to early AD detection and referral. Primary care is both a vital and optimal setting for early detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD and related dementias (ADRD), as it serves as the primary point of care for most older adults³—and assessing cognitive impairment as soon as symptoms appear provides an opportunity to take action with earlier initiation of informed disease management.²

This is reinforced by findings from the Alzheimer’s Disease Landscape Neurologist Survey, as 92% of ATT-prescribing neurologists surveyed expressed belief in the essential role PCPs play in identifying and referring patients with memory and thinking issues to neurologists early enough to be eligible for available therapies, including ATTs.

Further, 84% of all neurologists surveyed believed that improving the logistics of the confirmatory diagnostic, treatment, and coverage processes for AD would encourage them to consider novel treatments for their patients.

“To enable us to use the many tools that are now at our fingertips as neurologists, ideally we wish to see patients earlier in their course of disease—and that does put a significant onus on PCPs in terms of initiating timely referrals,” said Dr. Scharre. “As soon as PCPs hear of a cognitive complaint from a patient, I believe that’s the time to do a multi-domain cognitive assessment, and then potentially move on to evaluate for causes of cognitive decline and a referral, depending on the results.”

Demand for – and Barriers to – Timely Alzheimer’s Disease Care

The increasing consumer demand for answers about Alzheimer’s disease diagnoses should drive timely detection efforts and reinforce the need for provider education and system-level action.

Yet, despite the collective urgency from many patients, caregivers, and neurologists alike, an AD diagnosis in the U.S. can be delayed two years or more after a patient experiences initial problems with thinking and memory. This is often due to several factors, including social stigma and reluctance among PCPs to ask patients about cognitive problems, as well as neurologist shortages and limited health system capacity—especially in rural areas.²

From delays in accessing specialty care to limited access to confirmatory testing and systemic inefficiencies, barriers persist in the AD management and treatment landscapes. One U.S. neurologist who participated in the qualitative interview portion of the Alzheimer’s Disease Landscape Neurologist Survey noted, “Patients first visit their PCPs for initial testing, who then rule out other possibilities before referring them to a neurologist. By the time I see them, several months may have passed, and it can take even longer for them to undergo confirmatory testing.”

“Education is essential—not only for clinicians, but for patients and families,” said Dr. Scharre. “Early detection often starts at home, when families notice – but may not fully understand – subtle shifts in memory, judgment, or daily functioning. I tell my PCP colleagues to always ask one simple question during annual check-ups: ‘Have you noticed any change in your thinking or memory over the past year?’ It can be challenging, given all that PCPs must cover in a short visit, so patients and caregivers should also feel empowered to raise those cognitive concerns early to their PCP.”

Strengthening PCP-Neurologist Collaboration to Improve Patient Outcomes

As AD prevalence continues to rise, the need for scalable diagnostics, earlier intervention, and stronger PCP-neurologist collaboration has never been more urgent. PCPs and neurologists have a unique opportunity to help change the trajectory of what’s possible for patients living with AD by working together to help reduce barriers to care and ensure patients have access to innovative diagnostics and therapies.

PCPs play a vital role from early diagnosis through all stages of AD progression; they are central to the collaborative, coordinated management of dementia care.¹ Peer-to-peer discussions and open lines ofcommunication between PCPs and neurologists can help align expectations and streamline referral pathways, ultimately helping to facilitate and optimize outcomes for patients.

Learn more about the Alzheimer’s Disease Landscape Neurologist Survey here.

Landscape Neurologist Survey Methodology

This national survey, conducted by The Link Group on behalf of Eli Lilly and Company, gathered insights from 321 neurologists actively using advanced diagnostics and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Participants were members of MedSurvey’s physician community, and responses were collected between October 24 and November 11, 2024. The Link Group is an independent market research agency. Full methodology details are available here.

References

1. Alzheimer’s Association. 2025 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Alzheimers Dement 21, 5 (2025): 66-117
2. Porsteinsson A.P., Isaacson R.S., Knox S., et al. 2021. Diagnosis of early Alzheimer’s disease: clinical practice in 2021. Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease 8: 371-386
3. Zhou, Yifan, and Yadong Huang. Tauopathy: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies. Molecular Neurodegeneration 19, 1 (2024): 41