Dr. Breitner’s principal interest is in the causes of Alzheimer’s disease.  His research career has spanned early studies of familial aggregation in this disease – an early indication of possible genetic causes – to twin studies, and then on to a large longitudinal study of the occurrence of AD in a defined population (Cache County, UT) relating to both genetic and environmental causes.  The principal conclusions from this work are:  1.  AD is much more a familial disorder than was earlier imagined; 2. in many families, the inherited tendency toward disease is inapparent simply because AD is mostly a disorder of the very old and there are few or no very old relatives; 3.  the genetic risk factor APOE ε4 is a powerful determinant of when a person will develop AD, but says little about whether she will become ill if she lives to extreme old age; 4.  in longitudinal studies, people who are users of arthritis drugs like ibuprofen appear to have reduced risk (or later onset) of AD; but 5. the utility of these drugs for AD prevention is not proven.  Therefore, for the past 7 years Dr. Breitner has been the leader of the Alzheimer’s Disease Anti-inflammatory Prevention Trial (ADAPT) a large national randomized controlled trial of two such drugs to learn whether those treated do in fact show reduced rates of AD.  Although the treatments were stopped for safety reasons, the trial population is still under observation for possible treatment effects, and they are also an ideal population for biological studies to identify evidence of incipient AD before symptoms are apparent.
            At VA Puget Sound, Dr. Breitner is a lead physician in the weekly clinic for elderly veterans with dementia and other psychiatric disorders, and also in the Memory Disorders Clinic at the American Lake campus – the clinical arm of Dr. Craft’s Memory Wellness Program. 
            As Division head and GRECC Director, Dr. Breitner is an active educator of Geropsychiatry and Neuropsychology fellows, psychiatry residents, and medical students at the University of Washington.

  http://www.jhucct.com/adapt/documents.htm
  http://www.uwpsychiatry.org/AboutUs/Directories.asp