Study Focuses on Treatments to Delay Onset of Alzheimer's

Older adults who become noticeably more forgetful don't necessarily have Alzheimer's disease.

If they can still perform normal daily activities, they might have a condition known as mild cognitive impairment, a transitional state between normal aging and Alzheimer's disease.

Baylor College of Medicine is participating in a National Institute on Aging study to determine whether treatments for mild cognitive impairment can delay it from progressing to Alzheimer's.

"People with mild cognitive impairment have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, but we don't know whether everyone with this disorder will eventually develop Alzheimer's," says Dr. Rachelle Doody, principal investigator of the study at Baylor. In the five years since researchers began studying mild cognitive impairment, about 15 percent of patients each year have developed Alzheimer's.

The three-year study is comparing the effectiveness of vitamin E, an approved medication for Alzheimer's, and a multivitamin in 720 patients with mild cognitive impairment at more than 60 sites in the United States and Canada.

"If treating mild cognitive impairment could delay the onset of Alzheimer's by just five years, we could reduce the prevalence of Alzheimer's by 50 percent in each generation," says Dr. Doody, associate professor of neurology and clinical director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Baylor.

To qualify for the study, individuals must be with a memory problem that does not disrupt their daily activities. For example, an occasional failure to remember someone's name or the location of car keys would be considered normal behavior. But forgetting appointments or recent conversations several times or more a week might be symptoms of mild cognitive impairment - especially if the individual can still drive, get dressed and perform other routine tasks without any problems.

Family members and friends of someone (between the ages of 55 and 90)who is experiencing memory problems can call (888) 455-0655 to have the individual screened for the memory-impairment study. The Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study at the University of California, San Diego, is coordinating the research. The study is supported by the National Institutes of Health, Pfizer Inc., Eisai Inc. and Roche Vitamins Inc.

- B.J. Almond

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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