A Lewy Body dementia network longitudinal study in the UK (ENLIST-UK)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in dementia with Lewy Bodies. A UK longitudinal study.
IRAS ID
213980
Contact name
Dag Aarsland
Contact email
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
There are 800,000 people with dementia in the UK, and this is expected to rise to over 1 million by 2025. Accurate diagnosis is critical in overall management of patients. Important new findings have shown that biomarkers such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain imaging can help to accurately diagnose Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Biomarkers have now been included in the most recent diagnosis guidelines for AD. Less is known about biomarkers for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease (PDD), which together account for 15-20% of all dementia cases. Typically, DLB and PDD are characterised in patients by the presence of cognitive impairments, visual hallucinations and motor symptoms. DLB is diagnosed when dementia develops without parkinsonian symptoms (motor symptoms) or within a year of the onset of parkinsonian symptoms. PDD develops in a context of well-defined Parkinson’s Disease (PD) diagnosis as compared to DLB. Patients with DLB symptoms are frequently misdiagnosed due to their symptoms overlapping with AD and PD. Compared to AD, patients with DLB are particularly sensitive to psychiatric drugs, and have a worse outcome. It is therefore important to accurately diagnose these patients. Early findings indicate that measuring specific markers in CSF can also help to predict the worsening of thinking abilities in DLB. \n\nIn this study we will collect CSF, blood and neuroimaging data from 207 patients with suspected DLB, AD or PDD. We expect the majority will have mild dementia or very early problems like mild cognitive impairment. Full analysis of biological samples will be performed by researchers at King’s College London. In addition to already known measures of AD, we will examine new markers in order to see whether they can predict accurately disease outcomes for DLB. Patients will be followed up for three years, with biological markers completed at the beginning of the study and cognitive tests and questionnaires done every year.\n
REC name
London - Dulwich Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1973
Date of REC Opinion
24 Dec 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion