Prospective Research in Memory Clinics (PRIME)

Prospective Research in Memory Clinics (PRIME)

The purpose of the PRIME Study is to examine the current management and outcomes of patients with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Approximately 4500 patients will be enrolled in this disease registry across 12 sites in Australia. Clinical, treatment, health status and economic data will be acquired over 3 years. The study will identify the relationships among demographic variables, prognostic features, geographic setting, treatment options and clinical, economic and health status (activities of daily living and caregiver impact) outcomes.

A complete record of patient care will be collected to provide detailed information on the management and outcome of mild cognitive impairment and dementia and the profile of patients at participating sites. The data will be used to build models looking at the effect of management of these conditions on principal clinical events, health status and economic outcomes. This will provide the foundation for subsequent objective and prospective evaluation of evidence-based strategies for the optimal treatment of mild cognitive impairment and dementia in Australia. This study is not prescriptive, but will instead examine the influence of a whole range of routinely used management strategies on clinical and economic outcomes among mild cognitive impaired and dementia patients in Australia. This 'practice based' approach is increasingly widely used and is a useful tool for elucidating the relative effectiveness of different management strategies and for exploring relationships between patient characteristics, treatment and outcomes. Observational study - no study drug administered.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of dementia under the DSM-IV criteria, or of Mild Cognitive Impairment, using the Peterson Criteria
• Living in the community (home, apartment or collective housing with nursing care available for less than 40 hours per week)
• Patient able to provide written informed consent, or provision of written informed consent by a legal guardian/proxy
• Availability of a caregiver willing to provide consent for required components of the study
• Fluent in English
• May be participating in a Phase IV or other post-marketing follow up study of an approved product for treatment of dementia

Exclusion Criteria:

• No concomitant life-threatening illness (a condition which is likely to interfere with the patient's ability to complete the study)
• Not unwilling or unable to complete the study
• Not concurrently participating in a clinical trial of an investigational drug (phase I, II or III)
• Unwillingness of patient or legal guardian / proxy to provide written informed consent
• Unwillingness of caregiver to provide written informed consent
• For patients with diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment: current or previous treatment with any cholinesterase or memantine