MULTICENTER EVALUATION OF NEW INSTRUMENTS FOR ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE CLINICAL-TRIALS - SUMMARY OF RESULTS

The Instrument Development Project of the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperat ive Study (ADCS) evaluated new assessments in five domains: (a) cognit ive function; (b) clinical global change; (c) activities of daily livi ng; (d) behavioral symptoms; and (e) cognition in severely impaired pa tients. These new instruments demonstrate excellent discrimination bet ween normal controls and patient groups and show adequate validity and reliability. Stability of measurement and sensitivity to longitudinal change were also demonstrated in each of these areas. Examination of several domain-specific questions also contributed new information on the measurement of cognitive function with different subtasks across A D severity levels, the stability of clinical ratings of global change, and the applicability of behavioral assessments across severity level s. The success of this project enhances the state of the art in the me asurement of efficacy in AD clinical trials and also provides a basis for future research on improving AD outcome measures.