Are Patients Whose Study Partners Are Spouses More Likely to Be Eligible for Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trials?

Analysis of data from more than 5,000 probable Alzheimer’s disease dementia research participants in the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set found that participants with spousal study partners were more likely to qualify for Alzheimer's clinical trials than participants with adult child study partners. Participants with adult child study partners were more frequently ineligible because of age, residence in a skilled nursing facility, excluded low scores on the Mini-Mental State Exam, excluded high scores on the Hachinski ischemia scale, and failure to fulfill a minimum number of weekly visits with the study partner.

Grill JD, Monsell S, Karlawish J. Are patients whose study partners are spouses more likely to be eligible for Alzheimer's disease clinical trials? Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders 2012;33(5):334-40.