Weekly Dose Podcast: New AD Blood Test, Elinzanetant’s Sleep Effects, Lung Cancer Screening Success, Menopause Symptom Burden, and VMS Treatment Approval

The latest episode of the Weekly Dose Podcast from Patient Care® delivers a focused roundup of five major clinical updates for primary care—spanning cognitive evaluation, women’s health, cancer screening, and menopause treatment advances.

Below are this week’s key highlights.

1. First Blood Test for Alzheimer Disease Cleared for Primary Care Use

The Elecsys pTau181 assay is now available to support initial cognitive assessments in adults presenting with signs of decline. Measuring plasma phosphorylated tau, the test demonstrated a nearly 98% negative predictive value for ruling out AD-related amyloid pathology in early-disease, low-prevalence populations. The assay offers primary care clinicians a minimally invasive tool to identify who may not need advanced imaging or CSF testing, helping refine referral pathways and reduce unnecessary diagnostic burden.

2. Elinzanetant Improves Sleep Through Direct Mechanisms—Not Only Via VMS Relief

A pooled analysis of more than 1300 participants in multiple elinzanetant trials found that more than half of the treatment’s impact on sleep disturbances occurred independently of vasomotor symptom reduction. The total improvement in sleep was nearly 5 points, with approximately 54% attributable to direct effects on sleep pathways. These findings broaden understanding of elinzanetant’s mechanism of benefit and its potential role in addressing menopause-related sleep disruption.

3. Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Screening Program Achieves Dramatic Gains

A comprehensive lung cancer screening initiative integrating practice outreach, population health infrastructure, EHR prompts, patient navigation, consultant support, and coordinated recall more than doubled screening rates—from roughly one-third to more than 70% of eligible adults. Completion of annual scans exceeded 94%, and early-stage detection rose to nearly 78%. The program demonstrated that a well-structured, team-based model can elevate LCS performance to levels seen in other established screening programs.

4. Survey of 19 000 Women Reveals Menopause Symptoms Extend Far Beyond VMS

New nationwide survey data show that the dominant symptoms of perimenopause and menopause are low energy, sleep disturbance, stress, anxiety, brain fog, and weight gain—each affecting 70% or more of respondents. Classic vasomotor symptoms, while still common, were slightly less prevalent. The findings underscore the broad psychological, cognitive, and fatigue-related burden of menopause and support holistic, symptom-wide management strategies in primary care.

5. FDA Approves Elinzanetant for Treatment of Moderate-to-Severe Vasomotor Symptoms

Elinzanetant, the first dual NK-1/NK-3 receptor antagonist approved for VMS in menopause, demonstrated robust improvements in hot flash frequency and severity across multiple phase 3 trials. Benefits were seen by week 4 and sustained through 52 weeks, with additional improvements in sleep and menopause-related quality of life. A meta-analysis confirmed significant reductions in both frequency and intensity versus placebo, establishing elinzanetant as a new nonhormonal option for symptomatic patients.

Listen to the full episode for practical takeaways and deeper clinical context for your primary care practice.