LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center is looking for people to take part in a groundbreaking study that looks at ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Director for Pennington’s Institute for Dementia Research and Prevention, Jeff Keller, says they are looking at how something like hypertension can cause impairment of brain function.
"It's going to be one of the definitive studies to identify if treating hypertension in very specific ways lowers the risk for developing dementia."
Keller says Alzheimer’s is a complex disease without a cure or any new treatments, and this study aims to figure out which combination of medications and lifestyle changes may help people best avoid the disease. He says they are looking to enroll more than 600 older adults who are at high risk for losing important mental functions.
"People with hypertension, people who have memory complaints, or people that are just concerned about their memory who want to get involved in ways to prevent this disease."
For information about how to participate in the study, log on to idrp.pbrc.edu. Keller says 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s which is likely to affect 1 in 9 people age 65 and older. He says it is the costliest disease in the US and will triple in the next 35 years.
"Even if we find a way to treat Alzheimer's disease, if the number of cases goes from 5 to 15 million people, it's going to catastrophic effects on our society and our economy, we can't let that happen."

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