By volunteering for a clinical study or clinical trial, you can become a partner in helping researchers discover new ways to potentially diagnose, treat, and prevent Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. You may also:
Anyone 18 or older can participate, including people with dementia or memory problems, healthy volunteers, caregivers, and family members.
To learn more about specific research studies, search below to find listings near you, review the enrollment criteria, and reach out to study coordinators to ask questions. Even if there isn’t a study happening near you, you may still be able to participate in a study online.
Research involving people is called clinical research. There are two types of clinical research studies: observational studies and clinical trials.
The Alzheimers.gov Clinical Trials Finder includes listings for both kinds of clinical research studies.
Nearly everyone! When people think of clinical research for Alzheimer’s and related dementias, they may think that only people with dementia can participate. But that’s not true! To produce meaningful results, Alzheimer’s and related dementias researchers need a variety of volunteers, including:
Each study has specific requirements for participants, called inclusion and exclusion criteria. Check the qualifications to see if you may be eligible to participate.
Researchers need participants who represent all types of races and ethnicities, genders, geographic locations, and sexual orientations.
When research involves a group of people who are similar, the findings may not apply to or benefit everyone. When clinical trials include diverse participants, the study results may have a much wider applicability.
Having diverse people in studies can help researchers understand how dementia affects certain groups, why some communities are disproportionately affected by certain dementias, and which treatments or prevention strategies may be most effective in particular groups.
Explore more resources about clinical trials and research studies below. If you are a health care provider, you can also find tips on talking with your patients about clinical trials.
The Alzheimer’s & related Dementias Education & Referral (ADEAR) Center is a service of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. Call 800-438-4380 or email adear@nia.nih.gov to talk with an information specialist.
Last updated: August 30, 2023
This content is provided by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIA scientists and other experts review this content to ensure it is accurate and up to date.
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