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1992.09.01 :  Alzheimer's Panel

Contact: Bob Isquith (301) 227-8370
September 1, 1992

     HHS Assistant Secretary for Health James Mason, M.D., today
announced formation of a 17-member panel of health care experts
and consumers with responsibility for developing a clinical
practice guideline for use in screening for Alzheimer's disease
and related disorders.  Development of the guideline, scheduled
for release in 1993, is sponsored by the Public Health Service's
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.
     "Alzheimer's and other illnesses that impair learning,
memory and other aspects of mental function are of increasing
national concern," Dr. Mason said.  "Among people 65 or older, an
estimated 10 percent or more may suffer from mild to moderate
dementia, and nearly 5 percent from severe dementia."  Dr. Mason
noted the incidence of various dementias, including Alzheimer's
disease -- which can lead to total memory loss and eventual death
-- can be expected to rise as the population ages.
     But 10 to 20 percent of cases are potentially reversible if
the disease is detected and treated early enough.  "Even in cases
which are not reversible, including Alzheimer's," Dr. Mason said,
"early detection can permit care providers, especially family and
friends of the patient, to prepare for the financial and
emotional pressures caused by the illness.  "Furthermore," he
noted, "early treatment of secondary medical and psychiatric
complications of dementia, such as depression, wandering and
incontinence, can result in temporary improvement -- sometimes up
to a year or longer -- in the patient's ability to function
mentally."
     An estimated 2.5 million Americans are now affected by
Alzheimer's disease.
     AHCPR Administrator J. Jarrett Clinton, M.D., pointed out
that in many cases the symptoms of cognitive impairment, or
decline in normal ability to learn through perception and
reasoning, may go unrecognized.  The guideline will include
discussion of methods for recognizing such symptoms.
     Panel members were selected on the basis of their training,
clinical experience and research in Alzheimer's and related
problems, and their leadership in the field.  They are drawn 
predominantly from the private sector.  Although many are
associated with health-related institutions, they do not
represent these institutions as panel members but, rather, serve
as individual experts.  The group includes physicians, nurses,
psychologists, a social worker and an occupational therapist. 
Two consumer representatives also serve on the panel.
     The panel chairs are:
     T. Franklin Williams, M.D., professor of medicine,
University of Rochester and former director of the National
Institute on Aging, Rochester, N.Y.;

     Paul Costa, Jr., Ph.D., chief, Laboratory of Personality and
Cognition, the National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Md.;

     Panel members include:

     Marilyn Albert, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital,
Department of Psychiatry, Boston, Mass. (psychology);

     Nelson M. Butters, Ph.D., San Diego VA Medical Center, La
Jolla, Calif. (psychology);

     Marshal Folstein, M.D., The Johns Hopkins Hospital,
Baltimore, Md. (psychiatry);

     Sidney Gilman, M.D., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
(neurology);

     Barry Gurland, M.D., New York, N.Y. (psychiatry);

     Lisa Gwyther, M.S.W., Duke University Medical School,
Durham, N.C. (social work);

     Albert Heyman, M.D., Duke University Medical Center, Durham,
N.C. (neurology);

     Alfred W. Kaszniak, Ph.D., University of Arizona, Department
of Psychology, Tucson (psychology);

     Ira Katz, M.D., Ph.D., Medical College of Pennsylvania,
Department of Psychiatry, Philadelphia (psychiatry);

     Linda Levy, O.T.R./L., Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa.
(occupational therapy);

     Nancy Lombardo, Ph.D., Boston, Mass. (consumer
representative);

     Nancy Orr-Rainey, M.S., Redmond, Wash. (consumer
representative);

     Linda Phillips, Ph.D., University of Arizona, College of
Nursing, Tucson (nursing);

     Martha Storandt, Ph.D., Washington University, Department of
Neurology and Department of Psychology, St. Louis, Mo. (clinical
psychology);

     Eric G. Tangalos, M.D., Community Internal Medicine, Mayo
Clinic, Rochester, Minn. (internal medicine);

     May Louise Wykle, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve
University/Center on Aging and Health, Cleveland, Ohio (nursing).

     Once the panel has drafted the guideline, it will be
reviewed by other experts on Alzheimer's and related disorders
before being made available to practitioners, patients, medical
educators and others.

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