Las Vegas Sun

May 12, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

You can help fight Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States and affects 5.7 million Americans, including 45,000 in Nevada. It’s also our nation’s costliest disease at an estimated $277 billion annually. By 2050, the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease is likely to triple and costs could rise to $1.1 trillion per year. This is a crisis, but there is something each of us can do.

The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, or ADNI, is the largest and longest-running Alzheimer’s clinical trial, and it’s taking place at Cleveland Clinic. It is looking for healthy volunteers, ages 55 to 90, who have mild memory problems, as well as those who have been diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s disease. There is no medication involved.

Alzheimer’s robs people of both their future and their past. We need volunteers to better understand what happens in the aging brain, so we can better diagnose, treat and — one day — cure Alzheimer’s disease.

Call 1-888-223-6495 or visit ADNI3.org for more information or to join us.

The writer is lead investigator for an Alzheimer’s study being conducted at the Cleveland Clinic.