Mild senile dementia of Alzheimer type: research diagnostic criteria, recruitment, and description of a study population.

Abstract

SUMMARY Clinical investigations of senile dementia of the Alzheimer type require establishment of explicit clinical diagnostic criteria before histological confirmation is possible. Criteria for selection of mildly impaired subjects with senile dementia of Alzheimer type, free of other major disease, are proposed. Problems of recruitment of this select population for a longitudinal study are discussed. A study population with matched healthy control subjects has been enrolled and described. Short term follow-up has provided preliminary support for the diagnostic criteria.The most frequent cause of dementia in persons over age 65 is senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT), multi-infarct dementia being much less common.`-Increased awareness has led investigators to focus on SDAT and to search for means of identifying subjects in the less advanced stages, before the illness is complicated by effects of chronic debility and/or institutionalisation.Establishing presumptive diagnostic criteria without resorting to histologic study of the brain is an essential goal of clinical investigation. The importance of this goal is underscored by the difficulties inherent in distinguishing among the many disorders leading to brain failure3`and by the dearth of valid information on aetiology, natural history, pathophysiology, and therapy of SDAT. Concurrent needs include a reliable means of quantifying the degree of dementia9 and a comparison of the effects of healthy aging with those of SDAT. The Dementia Study Group of Washington University has met frequently for several years to discuss and investigate topics related to dementia.`0-17 The needs listed above led to the group to establish explicit clinical diagnostic criteria for SDAT and to initiate a longitudinal study of mild cases and healthy aging. In this paper is Address for reprint requests: L Berg, MD.,

Open Access Series of Imaging Studies (OASIS): Cross-sectional MRI Data in Young, Middle Aged, Nondemented, and Demented Older Adults

“…Older subjects with and without dementia were obtained from the longitudinal pool of the Washington University Alzheimer Disease Research Center (ADRC). The ADRC's normal and cognitively impaired subjects were recruited primarily through media appeals and word of mouth, with 80% of subjects initiating contact with the center and the remainder being referred by physicians (Berg et al, 1982(Berg et al, , 1998. All subjects participated in accordance with guidelines of the Washington University Human Studies Committee.…”

Personality traits distinguishing dementia with Lewy bodies from Alzheimer disease

“…[16][17][18] Nondemented and demented individuals undergo identical annual assessments. For this study, we examined the clinical records of 290 participants (nondemented control ϭ 34, DLB ϭ 128, AD ϭ 128) followed longitudinally.…”

Memory impairment, but not cerebrovascular disease, predicts progression of MCI to dementia

“…The CDR score was determined independently of neuropsychological information according to published protocol. 23,24 For this analysis, progression to dementia was based solely on a change in CDR score from 0.5 to 1.0 or higher.…”