| Over 4 million people in the US have AD, and a very substantial number have other dementias. The cost to the US economy is well over $100 billion/yr. The incidence of dementia is expected to double during the next 20 years. No existing treatment has yet been shown to slow the progression of AD but a large number of potential treatments are under development. Once such treatments for patients with AD are approved, the next obvious step will be to perform prevention trials on those at high risk for AD, such as subjects with MCI, family histories of dementia, or genetic risk factors for AD. Many elderly have memory problems, or other risk factors for AD. Once effective treatments for AD emerge, it will be very important to identify subjects at risk for cognitive decline and dementia at the earliest stage possible.
The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative will be used to help researchers and clinicians develop new treatments and monitor their effectiveness. This will increase the safety and efficiency of drug development by decreasing the time and cost of clinical trials. This project is the most comprehensive effort to date to identify neuroimaging and other biomarkers of the cognitive changes associated with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).
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