Hong Kong researchers have found that a gene variant more prevalent among ethnic Chinese people can lead to faster deterioration of Alzheimer’s disease cases, with some carriers progressing to the severe stages in just three to five years.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) said on Thursday the finding could pave the way for developing targeted treatment.

It also took the opportunity to stress the urgent need for a database cataloguing the genes of ethnic Chinese people with Alzheimer’s, a move that could help fill a critical gap in global understanding.

The team identified the gene variant TREM2 H157Y, which is five times more prevalent in Chinese patients than their European counterparts, as potentially leading to more rapidly deteriorating cases of Alzheimer’s. The gene is found in about one in 200 ethnic Chinese patients.

“Our study found that patients carrying TREM2 H157Y could see their condition deteriorate very rapidly, and carriers without Alzheimer’s disease are also at a high risk,” HKUST president Nancy Ip Yuk-yu said.

The research team said that despite China having about 10 million Alzheimer’s patients, accounting for more than 20 per cent of global cases, the most-studied genetic risk factor had historically been prevalent only in European populations.