CORE--CLINICAL

University Of Kentucky, Lexington KY

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The objective of the University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (UK-ADRC) Clinical Core is to provide clinical data, study participants and the means of obtaining autopsy materials for research. We propose the following: (1) Expand the existing group of community-dwelling normal elderly control participants followed to autopsy. We will add 100 new controls, who are at high risk of developing AD by virtue of their apolipoprotein-E4 allele status and family history, to the existing group of 374 actively followed for a total of 474. These participants undergo extensive cognitive testing and represent a unique resource for research into the relation between neuropathologic alterations and cognitive performance in aging. Participants in the control group who demonstrate cognitive change or who develop dementia continue to be active followed by the Clinical Core. (2) Expand the existing group of well-characterized individuals with dementia followed to autopsy. We will recruit 80 new individuals to the existing group of 120 for a total of 200. Patients with frontotemporal dementia. dementia with Lewy bodies, vascular dementia, and other dementing disorders less frequent than AD will be included in this recruitment. Ongoing recruitment will maintain a constant active clinic number of 200. Previously active clinic participants entering nursing facilities or otherwise unable to attend clinic will continue to be followed to autopsy. We project approximately 24 autopsies per year from the group with dementia, providing material for research. This material is particularly valuable because of the parallel longitudinal and autopsy data from the normal aged control subjects which can be used for comparison. (3) Continue to provide expert evaluation and diagnosis to individuals with memory disorders, and add their data to the existing registry of 988 individuals who are potential participants in cooperative, therapeutic and investigator-initiated research studies. In the past four years the Clinical Core has averaged 249 new and 253 return patient evaluations per year for this purpose. (4) Evaluate and follow under-served rural and minority patients with dementia in the Eastern Kentucky Satellite Diagnostic and Treatment Clinic and the Meharry Satellite Diagnostic and Treatment Clinic (M-SDTC.)