Millions of research volunteers have been essential to advancing medical science. Without their help, most of us wouldn’t have benefited from many remarkable scientific discoveries over the years.
If you are thinking of volunteering for an Alzheimer’s disease or memory research study, particularly a clinical trial of a medicine or other treatment, consider the following points so you have reasonable expectations about the project.
1. The study may not be right for you.
Most clinical trials have very specific criteria for participation.
Your doctor may have informed you that you have mild cognitive impairment, but you may not qualify for a study if you are also suffering from a medical illness like diabetes or hypertension that might confound the study results.
Many studies won’t include people taking certain medications that have cognitive effects.
2. You may have a chance of receiving a placebo.
If your main motivation is to take the new drug being tested, keep in mind that most clinical trials give some portion of the volunteers a placebo.
Check to see if you have an opportunity to receive the active drug after the study is completed, or consider a different study that does not include a placebo.
3. Make sure you can continue taking your necessary medicines.
Some studies exclude subjects taking a variety of medicines, so know which drugs you can’t use during the study.
For studies of Alzheimer’s, most volunteer patients can continue to take their symptomatic medicines (e.g. rivastigmine or Exelon, memantine or Namenda, donepezil or Aricept) while enrolled in the study.
4. Check your schedule and the frequency of study visits.
Each investigation has regularly scheduled study visits, so it’s important to be sure that your personal timetable won’t interfere with volunteering for the study.
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