Risk Disclosure and Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trial Enrollment

Fifty cognitively normal participants were interviewed about barriers and facilitators to joining an Alzheimer's disease prevention trial after being randomized to one of two hypothetical Alzheimer’s disease risk scenarios: 1) the general age-related risk for Alzheimer’s disease, or 2) being at 50 percent increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Thirteen themes of facilitators and five themes of barriers were identified. The most common barrier was fear related to taking the study drug. Participants told they were at increased risk more frequently cited lowering personal risk as a facilitator and less frequently cited time as a barrier to enrollment. Results suggest that disclosing risk information may enhance enrollment.  

Grill JD, Karlawish J, Elashoff D, Vickrey BG. Risk disclosure and preclinical Alzheimer's disease clinical trial enrollment. Alzheimer's & Dementia 2012;9(3):356-359.