Study Planned
To Fight Onset
Of Alzheimer's
By Elizabeth Crowley
03/16/99
The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON -- The National Institutes of Health announced plans for a large study to see if Alzheimer's disease can be prevented in people suffering from a memory problem called mild cognitive impairment.
The three-year study will take place at up to 80 medical institutions in the U.S. and Canada and will involve 720 people aged 55 through 90. It will be carried out by the National Institute of Aging.
The Memory Impairment Study marks the first time the institute has tested the effectiveness of drug treatments in preventing the onset of Alzheimer's. Previous studies have focused on people already showing mild to moderate signs of impairment from Alzheimer's. By intervening at the first signs of unusual memory loss, researchers hope to delay the devastating disease, or prevent it altogether.
The clinical trial was announced just as new research, published in the March issue of the Archives of Neurology, confirmed that mild cognitive impairment, known as MCI, differs from both dementia and normal age-related changes in memory. Patients with the condition forget more than is normal for their age, but don't exhibit the dementia characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. The study was conducted by Ronald Petersen, a director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., who will also serve as a co-director of the new memory study.
Still, people suffering from it are at risk for developing Alzheimer's: 12% to 15% of all MCI patients will progress to Alzheimer's each year -- about 40% after three years -- while just 1% of all people over 65 will be diagnosed with Alzheimer's each year.
The NIH study will test whether Vitamin E or donepezil, a drug marketed by Pfizer Inc. and approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, can prevent or delay the conversion from MCI to Alzheimer's.
Dr. Petersen said that while it may be normal to forget the name of a new acquaintance, a patient with MCI regularly forgets things that he would like to remember. Researchers also say that memory problems associated with MCI are more troublesome and persistent than normal forgetfulness.
MCI patients score well on tests of general cognitive function, and display nearly normal attention, language, orientation and problem-solving skills. These individuals, however, score poorly on tests where they are asked to read a paragraph and recall details.
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