With this research study, we want to learn if methylphenidate (Ritalin® and others) helps people with Alzheimer's disease and apathy (lack of interest or concern for things that others find moving or exciting).

The purpose of the Alzheimer's Disease Registry Study (ADRS) is to (1) create a registry that will continue to provide study-ready subjects who meet research diagnostic criteria for the different stages of AD and who have been evaluated using research instruments that allow for their participation in clinical trial research, (2) provide a platform to allow for continual follow-up with registry participants to allow for their participation in clinical trial research at different stages of the disease process, and (3) to incorporate a population of veterans and minorities suffering from AD, a population that is not proportionally represented in clinical trial research, into the registry.

By collecting data pertaining to medical history, current medication details, family history, vital signs, and memory/thinking symptom concerns and evaluating a subject's ability to perform certain tasks, such as memory and thinking tests, questions about their daily activities, and social functioning; researchers are able to determine a research subject's potential eligibility in a clinical trial research protocol.

A registry with such information would enable researchers to effectively and efficiently identify potentially eligible research subjects for the program's evolving portfolio of Alzheimer's disease-related clinical trials.