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CompletedNCT05635357Updated Jul 28, 2025

Data Analysis for Drug Repurposing for Effective Alzheimer's Medicines (DREAM)- Anastrozole vs Exemestane/Letrozole

An observational study in Breast Cancer, sponsored by Brigham and Women's Hospital. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 65 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-07-28.

Sponsored by Brigham and Women's Hospital · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Retrospective
Enrollment
16,989
Ages
65 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

This study aims to evaluate the comparative risk of dementia/Alzheimer's disease onset between patients treated with medications that target specific metabolic pathways and patients treated with alternative medications for the same indication.

Read the detailed description

This is a non-randomized, non-interventional study that is part of the DREAM Study of Brigham and Women's Hospital. DREAM is led by Dr. Madhav Thambisetty, MD, PhD, Chief of the Clinical and Translational Neuroscience Section, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging (NIA) intramural research program. This study aims to evaluate the comparative risk of dementia/Alzheimer's disease onset between patients treated with medications that target specific metabolic pathways and patients treated with alternative medications for the same indication using healthcare claims data.

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Conditions studied

  • Breast Cancer

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In context

Breast Neoplasms

12,544 studies on the registry are indexed under Breast Neoplasms; 2,892 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 16,989 is above the median of 184 across 2,642 observational studies indexed under Breast Neoplasms.

Browse Breast Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Brigham and Women's Hospital is the lead sponsor of 1,236 studies on the registry; 224 are open to participants now.

Of its 116 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 64 (55%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
65 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

This study will employ a new user, active comparator, observational cohort study design comparing Anastrozole vs Exemestane/Letrozole. The patients will be required to have continuous enrollment during the baseline period of 365 days before initiation of study drugs (cohort entry/index date). Follow-up for the outcome (dementia) differs between analyses. Follow-up begins the day after drug initiation (analysis 1, 3, 4); 180 days after drug initiation (analysis 2).

Please see https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GrnVsPCockqqdfxC9LWd6ndbzS2wpJVvTbCOAhn4DLM/edit?usp=sharing or Appendix A (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1I8FVmpPzC5wQN9DFIv1Rbwh1N0SLEv0B?usp=sharing) for full code and algorithm definitions.

Medicare timeframe: 2008 to 2018 (end of data availability)

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 1. Aged >/= 65 years on the index date
  • 2. Enrollment in Medicare Part A, B, and D with no HMO coverage for 365 days prior to and including cohort entry date
  • 3. At least two claims with breast cancer diagnosis measured 365 days prior to drug initiation

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • 1. Prior history of dementia measured anytime prior to cohort entry date
  • 2. Prior history of nursing home admission anytime prior to cohort entry date
  • 3. Prior history of Anastrozole or Exemestane/Letrozole use anytime prior to cohort entry date
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Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Retrospective
Enrollment
16,989 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Anastrozole

    Exposure group

    Drug: Anastrozole

  • Exemestane/Letrozole

    Reference group

    Drug: Exemestane/Letrozole

Interventions

  • DrugAnastrozole

    Anastrozole claim is used as the exposure group.

  • DrugExemestane/Letrozole

    Exemestane/Letrozole claim is used as the reference group.

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Time to dementia onset

    Time to dementia onset, i.e., Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, senile, presenile, or unspecified dementia, or dementia in other diseases classified elsewhere. Please refer to uploaded protocol for full definition due to size limitations.

    Time frame: up to 6 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Time to Alzheimer's disease onset

    Time to Alzheimer's disease onset. Please refer to uploaded protocol for full definition due to size limitations.

    Time frame: up to 6 years

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Study locations

1 site
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital
    Boston, Massachusetts 02120, United States
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References and documents

Study documents

  • Protocol and statistical analysis plan · Jul 7, 2023

Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 28, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05635357
Lead sponsor
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Collaborators
National Institute on Aging (NIA), Rutgers University, Johns Hopkins University
Responsible party
Rishi J. Desai (Assistant Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Dec 2, 2022
Start date
Nov 1, 2022
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2023
Completion
Dec 31, 2023
Last update
Jul 28, 2025

Study contacts

Madhav Thambisetty, MD, PhD
principal investigator · National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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