Massachusetts General Hospital/Eisai NIMH AD Genetics Initiative Study

This study cohort was collected as part of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Alzheimer's disease Genetics Initiative Study. Recruitment of families, predominantly sibling, for the cohort was focused on local memory disorder clinics, nursing homes, and the surrounding community. Clinical evaluation was performed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Johns Hopkins University, and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Informed consent was obtained from all study participants, for participants with extensive cognitive impairment, a legal guardian or caregiver with power of attorney provided consent. To determine age of onset, a creditable informer was interviewed and medical records were evaluated.]]>
Inclusion in the study cohort required each family to contain at least two living blood relatives with clinically diagnosed memory difficulty. The proband from each family was required to meet NINCDS/ADRDA criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and any secondary affected family member to be diagnosed with possible or probable AD. ]]>