Ethical issues in Alzheimer disease research

Research in Alzheimer disease (AD) is required to advance knowledge for the ultimate goal of finding a cure or prevention and to improve care for persons with AD and their caregivers. All research needs to be planned and conducted ethically, but research in AD has many ethical issues to consider due to the diminished cognitive capacity of potential subjects and genetic testing for AD. This paper describes the development of guidelines for ethical research, applying ethical principles to issues in human subjects research, and ethical issues in AD research. Important ethical questions must be addressed in AD research and basic moral and professional values will certainly be tested as the state of the science improves and research on AD, especially research involving genetic testing for the disease, becomes more acceptable and available.