Table 1.

The main CERAD instruments and ancillary materials

Instrument	Brief description of contents
Clinical battery	Demographic data on subjects and informants; clinical history; Blessed Dementia Rating Scale, end points in late stage dementia, (screen for Behavior Rating Scale for Dementia (patients only); Short Blessed; calculation, clock, language; physical exam; neurological exam – overall and extrapyramidal dysfunction; report of laboratory and neuroimaging studies; Clinical Dementia Rating scale; diagnostic impression including AD, AD with secondary contributing disorder, extrapyramidal dysfunction in AD; nonAD dementias
Neuropsychology battery	Verbal Fluency (animal naming), Boston Naming (15 items), Mini-Mental State Exam (serial 7s omitted), Word List Learning, Constructional Praxis, Word List Recall, Word List Recognition (10 original words, 10 foils), Constructional Praxis recall
Neuropathology battery	Demographic data; History; Gross examination; Cerebrovascular disease, gross findings; Microscopic vascular findings; Major nonvascular microscopic findings; Microscopic evaluation; Hippocampus, neocortex; Assessment of neurohistologic findings; Neuropathologic diagnosis; Final assessment.
Neuroimaging battery	Technical protocol on acquisition of MR scans; general information; cerebral atrophy (perceptual ratings); white matter lesions, excluding hemorrhages and infarcts; cerebral vascular disease (infarcts and lacunes, parenchymal hemorrhages). Extensively illustrated.
Behavior Rating Scale for Dementia	46-item scale assessing presence and frequency of behaviors on 6 subscales: depressive symptoms, inertia, vegetative symptoms, irritability/aggression, behavioral dysregulation, psychotic symptoms. An abbreviated 17-item scale has also been developed. Scales, manual, training video, and scoring guide available.
Family history assessment	Mapping of first and second degree kin and determining likely presence of AD, Parkinson’s disease, and Down syndrome
Services assessment	Evaluation of in-home and community-based service use and need, including institutionalization and hospitalization. Material not fully evaluated.
Autopsy resources	Materials to facilitate autopsy recruitment by sites (guidelines, forms, sample letters, informational brochures)
Educational brochures	Information on early symptoms of AD and steps to take, in 6th. grade level English, and simple Spanish