The Canadian Alzheimer's disease quality of life study

The Canadian Study of Health and Aging estimated that in 1991, 161,000 Canadians aged 65 and over had Alzheimer¿s disease (AD), and projected that the prevalence of AD will triple to 509,000 by the year 2031. The human and financial costs of AD are enormous. Although several new drug treatments for AD have become available, it is not clear whether these drugs significantly improve the quality of life (QOL) of persons with AD or their caregivers. The study of QOL in AD remains in its infancy. Little is known about how QOL changes over time as the disease progresses. We are conducting a national multi-centre study of persons with AD and their caregivers. We are recruiting participants from memory disorder clinics in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Whitby, Peterborough, Toronto, Hamilton, London, Calgary and Vancouver. We are following the persons with AD and their caregivers for two years and are measuring changes in their QOL over this time period. This study will provide us with an understanding about how the QOL of persons with AD and their caregivers change as AD progresses and about which characteristics of the persons with AD and of their caregivers most influence the changes in their QOL. This will help identify approaches to enhance the QOL of persons with AD and their caregivers. The study will also help establish how to best measure QOL in future AD clinical trials.