for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

the rate of recognition of dementia by primary care clinicians found that the disease is often not recog-nized,7 with the percentage of cases of undetected mild to moderate dementia ranging between 50% and 95%.8,9 However, the involvement of primary care physi-cians in the management of AD should not be restricted to diagnosis of the disease. They also have an important role in treatment of the disease.10,11 Yet there is a dearth of evidence available regarding pri-mary care physicians ’ treatment preferences. Findings of a European survey regarding treatment patterns for AD found that although most physicians initiated pharmacological treatment immediately after the diagnosis, general practitioners recommended less medication than did specialists.2,12 Similar findings were reported in a study examining treatment patterns of 31 AD patients attended by primary care physicians and 27 AD patients treated by a geriatric psychiatrist.13 Given the fast development and variety of phar-macological and nonpharmacological interventions for the treatment of AD,14 it is becoming increasingly clear that we need a broader understanding of primary care physicians ’ treatment preferences. The aim of the pres-ent study was therefore to assess family physicians’ Since most persons with Alzheimer’s disease(AD) and their families are cared for in pri-mary care clinics, there is increasing aware-ness of the pivotal role that primary care physicians have in the management of this disease.1,2 In fact, during recent years, research has addressed not only the challenges of primary care physicians in identi-fying and diagnosing persons with symptoms of AD but also their preparedness in dealing with these issues. Studies assessing primary care physicians’ knowledge about AD have revealed important gaps, especially in symptom recognition and epidemiolog-ical and legal issues.3-6 Special attention has been devoted to the difficulties confronting primary care physicians in the diagnosis of the disease and its dis-closure to patients and caregivers. Studies assessin