Ethical issues in research with dementia patients

Abstract The conduct of scientific research involving dementia patients is an ethically complex issue. Increased insight into the causes and aetiology of this condition can be of paramount importance for future patients and society as a whole. However, the rights and interests of vulnerable and incompetent persons as subjects in research make ethical boundaries imperative. A distinction should be made between research that may directly be of benefit to the subject (therapeutic research) and research in which no direct benefit for the patient can reasonably be expected (non‐therapeutic research). The majority of the research with dementia patients falls within the latter category. Several ethical issues are discussed, and special attention is paid to the ethical justification of non‐therapeutic research involving incompetent subjects suffering from dementia. Five conditions that should be met in order to make this kind of research ethically acceptable are formulated.