title: Early and differential diagnosis of dementia and mild cognitive impairment: design and cohort baseline characteristics of the German Dementia Competence Network.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The German Dementia Competence Network (DCN) has established procedures for standardized multicenter acquisition of clinical, biological and imaging data, for centralized data management, and for the evaluation of new treatments.
  
  
  METHODS
  A longitudinal cohort study was set up for patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), patients with mild dementia and control subjects. The aims were to establish the diagnostic, differential diagnostic and prognostic power of a range of clinical, laboratory and imaging methods. Furthermore, 2 clinical trials were conducted with patients suffering from MCI and mild to moderate Alzheimer's Disease (AD). These trials aimed at evaluating the efficacy and safety of the combination of galantamine and memantine versus galantamine alone.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here, we report on the scope and projects of the DCN, the methods that were employed, the composition and flow within the diverse groups of patients and control persons and on the clinical and neuropsychological baseline characteristics of the group of 2,113 subjects who participated in the observational and clinical trials.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data have an impact on the procedures for the early and differential clinical diagnosis of dementias, the current standard treatment of AD as well as on future clinical trials in AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany. Johannes.Kornhuber@uk-erlangen.de
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kornhuber
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmidtke
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frolich
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Perneczky
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hampel
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jessen
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Heuser
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weih
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jahn
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Luckhaus
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hüll
authors.forename: Hermann-Josef
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Gertz
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schröder
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pantel
authors.forename: Otto
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rienhoff
authors.forename: Susanne A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Seuchter
authors.forename: Eckart
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rüther
authors.forename: Fritz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Henn
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiltfang