New R.I. Alzheimer’s Disease registry launched

By Richard Asinof
Contributing Writer
Twitter: @RichardAsinof

PROVIDENCE – A new program, “Prevent AD: The Rhode Island Alzheimer Prevention Registry,” is being launched in a collaboration between Rhode Island Hospital’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center, Butler Hospital’s Aging and Memory Program, and Memorial Hospital’s Center for Primary Care and Prevention.

The new registry, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging, is designed to provide those at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease access to the most promising prevention treatment trials.

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 20,000 people in Rhode Island, 5 million people in the U.S. and 35 million people worldwide, according to hospital officials. It is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States and the only cause of death among the top 10 in the United States that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed.

“Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most complex and common forms of dementia, and it is placing an enormous burden on our aging population,” said Dr. Brian R. Ott, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center at Rhode Island Hospital. “The Prevent AD registry will allow us to identify the residents in Rhode Island and southern New England who are interested in being part of our efforts to develop effective treatments aimed at ways to delay early symptoms and one day, hopefully to prevent it from developing at all.”

The Prevent AD registry is currently recruiting participants for two studies: