The Impact of Lorazepam on Cognition in APOE e4 Carriers
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2007-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
We expect the results of this pilot study to justify a larger study that follows people to
determine if certain tests of memory and attention, performed while sleepiness is induced by
a single dose of lorazepam (a widely used anti-anxiety medication) could predict an
individual's risk of developing AD. We plan to compare cognitively normal people who possess
a common gene that increases risk for AD- the apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele-to
individuals without this gene. We hypothesize that a single 2 mg dose of lorazepam will cause
more cognitive impairment in carriers of the APOE e4 allele than in noncarriers, and that the
carriers will recover more slowly from these impairments than noncarriers.