Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in Bay Area

sybilfriedman
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Re: Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in Bay Area

Post by sybilfriedman »

Are they still accepting people for this study & must they live in the Bay Area?

What is the best way to find out about similar studies going on in Southern CA?
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Re: Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in Bay Area

Post by NF52 »

sybilfriedman wrote:Are they still accepting people for this study & must they live in the Bay Area?

What is the best way to find out about similar studies going on in Southern CA?
Hi Sybil,
The study that Julie G referred to is apparently still recruiting; however, all participants must have a diagnosis of early Alzheimer's disease. (That usually refers to early-stage Alzheimer's, not Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease (EAOD) which occurs at younger ages.) Here's a quote and a link to their home page:
This lifestyle medicine program includes a whole foods low-fat, low-sugar plant-based diet;moderate exercise; stress management techniques including meditation; and psychosocial support....In this study, 100 patients who have early Alzheimer’s disease in the San Francisco Bay area are being enrolled and are randomly-assigned to one of two groups...This study has been approved by both the UCSF and Western Institutional Review Boards.
Prevention Medicine Research Institute

There are a few other patient registries (or cohorts) which may interest you. Researchers do want to follow lots of healthy people over time to see what factors are associated with continued brain health. Especially those of us with ApoE 4! As someone who participated for close to three years in a clinical trial for healthy people with ApoE4, I had months during the screening period to decide whether to commit to this. I was always reminded that I could stop at any time and even told to take a break for 3 weeks when I got bronchitis and needed an antibiotic. I was given results of my blood tests during the trial which paralleled many of Dr. Bredesen's recommended tests and, after the trial was over, my cognitive results and PET scan results.

Here are two options near you:

Brain Health Registry is based in UCSF, but pulls people from throughout the U.S. They note that for most people, participation takes less than 3 hours per year and is completely online. They have been doing this since 2015, and have produced peer-reviewed articles about some findings. The goal is to follow 100,000 people for up to 10 years, which may feel a little anonymous, but has the great advantage of finding trends that might not show up in looking at just a small group of people.

APT Webstudy is recruiting people ages 50 and older for online cognitive evaluations, with the results provided to you. The acronym stands for Alzheimer's Prevention Trial and the goal is to improve research on how people do on cognitive tests years before they may have any concerns about memory in order to identify the very earliest signs of subtle changes in thinking and in biomarkers that may be the best time for preventative treatments, including the types of preventions Dr. Bredesen recommends. Here's a quote from the welcome page
  • Access to secure, personalized, web-based tools to assess and track your cognitive performance
    Opportunity to participate in comprehensive evaluations at one of our nationwide clinical sites
    Opportunity to participate in clinical trials to prevent Alzheimer’s disease

I hope this is helpful; let us know if you'd like more info.
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Plumster
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Re: Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in Bay Area

Post by Plumster »

Hi Sybil Friedman,

You can contact them directly and ask: "If you are interested in finding out more information about enrolling patients who live in the greater Bay area or in supporting this research, please call Colleen Kemp, RN, MSN at 415-332-2525 x-255 or 415-332-2525 x-229. Thank you very much for your consideration."
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Re: Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in Bay Area

Post by Plumster »

It appears that Dean Ornish and his colleagues are still looking for participants with mild cognitive impairment for this study. The phone number is: 415-332-2525, extension 255.
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Mel
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Re: Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in Bay Area

Post by Mel »

Does anyone have a link to the results (findings) from the "Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in the Bay Area" ? Was it effective?
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Re: Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in Bay Area

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Mel wrote:Does anyone have a link to the results (findings) from the "Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in the Bay Area" ? Was it effective?
The study is still active and recruiting participants. Many clinical trials had to suspend or scale back recruiting efforts during 2020 because of COVID=19 restrictions or the reluctance of potential participants to go to a hospital or clinic setting. This is a 40-week trial, which doesn't include the time for screening participants to determine eligibility. It often takes a year or more after a study is completed to review the result. Since they are recruiting mid-year in 2021, the earliest they would be likely to be complete would be mid-year 2022. I wouldn't expect to see any announcements from them until late 2022 or into 2023.

Here's a link to the website for the study, with a form on it for interested people to contact the study staff:
https://pmri.org/research/reverse-alzhe ... ent-trial/

Note that eligibility has been extended beyond the Bay Area, although participants must have a diagnosis of early-stage (or mild) Alzheimer's disease:
This clinical research is being conducted via the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public foundation) in collaboration with other institutions, including the University of California San Francisco, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health at The Cleveland Clinic in Las Vegas, and the University of California San Diego.

Eligible patients must live in the greater San Francisco, Boston, Las Vegas, or San Diego areas.
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Mel
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Re: Reversing Alzheimer's Trial in Bay Area

Post by Mel »

Thanks for the update. I look forward to learning the results when complete.
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