TAMPA, Fla. — November is Alzheimer's Awareness Month. It's estimated that 1 in 8 Floridians are currently living with the disease and are supported by more than 800,000 unpaid family caregivers. Now, there's some exciting new research happening that could make a huge difference.
The local part of that research is being done at USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute. Experts are looking at the latest treatments and even prevention of cognitive decline that comes with Alzheimer's disease.
It's called the AHEAD Study and they are looking at the FDA-approved drug Leqembi, which is already approved for people with significant dementia. Researchers want to see if they could delay the symptoms by giving it to those at risk about 10 years earlier.
Dr. Reisa Sperling of Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital says they are looking for people ages 55-80 to participate in this clinical trial.
"So we know that people of a strong family history are at a higher risk, so certainly people who have seen it in their parents or a brother or a sister should be worried," she said, "but also sometimes people have very subtle changes where they notice things themselves even though they're still in the normal range, they're realizing they're not quite as sharp as they were."
Dr. Sperling says it's also important to get a diverse group of people to take part in the trials.
"And yet they're the least likely to want to come into our studies for very good reasons, but the AHEAD Study really aims to overcome those barriers and try to make sure that we welcome people from all communities and that we find treatments that work best for each person and the only way to do that is to have people represented in our clinical trials," she said.
Click here to see more on that study and who is eligible or would be a good candidate.
And anyone can help raise awareness by participating in the Walk To End Alzheimer's this Saturday at Amalie Arena. Click here for more information on the event.