Research
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Who do I call for information? Reena Rao at |
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Stanford/VA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center is looking for research participants who are eligible and interested in participating in the following studies.
Participants must have a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or a related condition that causes memory loss. Our center may be able to provide a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation.
Studies
Medication Assessment in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients
- A study evaluating the effectiveness of routine clinical treatment of individuals with Alzheimer's or related memory problems. Included will be individuals treated with FDA-approved drugs such as Aricept, Exelon, Reminyl, and Namenda, as well as those who are not receiving these medications.
- A study evaluating the effectiveness of FDA-approved anti-Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) treatments in Ethnic Minority Projects.
Sleep Disorders
- A sleep study is looking at the daily sleep-awake patterns in Alzheimer's patients including sundowning. Current Publications. (
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Psychosocial Factors in AD Progression
- Disease progression in AD leads to increased dependence, depression, caregiver stress, and institutionalization. The emotional and financial burdens to both patients and their families are high. While there is evidence linking different support interventions to delayed institutionalization, information systematically documenting how often these services are used, levels of unmet needs, and perceived barriers to their use and their influence on patient rate of decline and institutionalization is limited. The objective of this collaborative project is to determine:
- The prevalence of Day Care and Support Group use among ARCC subjects diagnosed with AD and their caregivers.
- Factors associated with Day Care and Support Group participation among ARCC subjects diagnosed with AD and their caregivers.
- If regular participation in these programs slows rate of cognitive decline and delays institutionalization.
Sexuality in Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
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We have been interested for a number of years in the changes that take place in a relationship when one of the partners develops dementia and AD, and have conducted research on the subject since 1989.
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Studies have shown that being able to stay connected and to share some positive activities is important in preventing depression in both patients and caregivers. We are currently looking at the issues that may arise regarding physical and emotional intimacy over the course of the disease. Our overall goal is to gain a better understanding of these issues and develop ways of helping couples address them. Current Publications. (
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Exercise and Alzheimer's Disease: Prevalence and Possible Therapeutic Benefits
- The objective of this study is to determine:
- The prevalence of exercise and behavioral enrichment in patients diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment and/or Alzheimer’s Disease.
- Whether exercise and/or behavioral enrichment help improve activities of daily living and reduce depression.
- Whether exercise and/or behavioral enrichment activities slow the decline in activities of daily living, depression, and cognition as AD progresses.
Functional Impairment in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Dementia
- Functional changes in dementia result in loss of independence, reduce patient and caregiver quality of life, and increase economic burden. There is a need for more sensitive, comprehensive, and quantifiable methods to assess everyday function. A better understanding of how to conceptualize and measure real-world deficits has important clinical and research implications including the improved detection of early change, and more sensitive measurement of decline over time. This collaborative project employs a new psychometrically rigorous, theoretically-driven instrument to assess functional change in MCI and early to moderate dementia. This newly developed instrument, the Everyday Cognition Scale (ECog), will be used to better characterize the nature of functional impairment as it occurs throughout the spectrum of cognitive change from normal aging through MCI and dementia. The ECog is a brief, informant completed measure that represents a practical method of obtaining quantitative information about daily function in sets of common tasks that are linked to the major cognitive abilities (e.g. memory, language, etc.).
Health Economics, Utilities and Health-Related Quality of Life of Californians with AD
- The purpose of this collaborative study is to obtain resource use, health utilities and health-related quality of life assessments in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment; and to improve methods for assessment of effectiveness of interventions for patients with AD.
