Cognitive Effects of Aerobic Exercise in Alzheimer's Disease: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Aerobic exercise has shown inconsistent cognitive effects in older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia.

Objective: To examine the immediate and longitudinal effects of 6-month cycling on cognition in older adults with AD dementia.

Methods: This randomized controlled trial randomized 96 participants (64 to cycling and 32 to stretching for six months) and followed them for another six months.

Impact of apolipoprotein E genotypes on vitamin E and memantine treatment outcomes in Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Because apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotypes are known risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD), they have been measured in clinical trial participants to determine their effect on treatment outcome.

Methods: We determined APOE genotypes in a subset of subjects (N = 415) who participated in a randomized controlled trial of vitamin E and memantine in 613 veterans with mild-to-moderate AD.

Results: Similar to the primary study, substudy participants receiving vitamin E also had slower functional decline than those receiving placebo.

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms and Caregiver Burden in Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease: The TEAM-AD VA Cooperative Study.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease (AD) and their association with caregiver burden.

Methods: Secondary analyses of baseline data from the Trial of Vitamin E and Memantine in Alzheimer's Disease (TEAM-AD) (N=613). Neuropsychiatric Inventory were used to measure severity of NPS and caregiver activity survey to measure caregiver burden.

Measuring informed consent capacity in an Alzheimer's disease clinical trial.

Introduction: Accurately and efficiently determining a participant's capacity to consent to research is critically important to protect the rights of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: Understanding of the informed consent document was assessed in 613 community-dwelling patients with mild-to-moderate AD enrolled in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Associations were examined between clinically determined capacity to consent and (1) patient demographics and clinical characteristics and (2) the Informed Consent Questionnaire (ICQ), an objective measurement of a participant's factual understanding and perceived understanding.