Proposed Revision of Research Diagnostic Criteria for Alzheimer Disease

In this article, the authors propose new research diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer disease (AD), as a revision of the 1984 criteria from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Communicative Diseases and Stroke–Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS–ADRDA) (Neurology 1984; 34:939). Seventeen international dementia experts met on June 9, 2005, to discuss updates in the field of AD and eventually drafted these revised criteria.

The new proposed criteria for probable AD require the clinical criterion of gradually progressive subjective episodic memory impairment, corroborated by objective evidence of impaired memory storage on cognitive testing. Memory impairment may be isolated or accompanied by impairment …