🧠 About the IWG
The International Working Group brings together the world's leading clinical experts on Alzheimer disease to develop and promote a rigorous, clinically grounded diagnostic framework.
The Birth
The International Working Group on Alzheimer Disease (IWG) was founded in 2004 by Professor Bruno Dubois, Director of the Institut de la Mémoire et de la Maladie d'Alzheimer (IM2A), Sorbonne Université, Paris, to address the growing need for internationally agreed diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer disease reflecting both the clinical and biological dimensions of the condition.
📜 A History of Landmark Criteria
The IWG has produced three generations of research criteria for Alzheimer disease: the IWG-1 criteria (2007), the IWG-2 criteria (2014), and the most recent IWG 2024 recommendations, published in JAMA Neurology. Each iteration has refined the clinical-biological definition of AD in light of new scientific evidence.
🌍 An International Consensus
The IWG unites 46 clinical neurologists, psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, and geriatricians from institutions across Europe, North America, Latin America, and Australia. This breadth of expertise ensures that the group's recommendations reflect diverse clinical practices and populations worldwide.
⚖️ An Independent and Responsible Voice
The IWG operates independently of pharmaceutical industry interests and regulatory bodies. Its recommendations are driven by patients' needs and scientific evidence. The IWG acknowledges the harms of over-diagnosis and premature labelling by advocating a specific patient journey for cognitively unimpaired individuals with positive biomarkers.
🎯 Clinical-Biological Framework
The IWG's defining position is that Alzheimer disease is a clinical-biological construct: a diagnosis requires both a recognised clinical phenotype (measurable cognitive impairment) and supportive biological evidence (positive AD biomarkers). Biomarker positivity alone, in the absence of symptoms, is not sufficient to support a diagnosis of AD.
📅 History of the Criteria
17 years of evolving science — from the revision of NINCDS–ADRDA to the 2024 clinical-biological construct. Hover over each milestone for a summary.
Founding Criteria
Major Revision
Review
Recommendations
Current Framework
📄 Latest Publication
The IWG's most recent recommendations, published in JAMA Neurology in 2024.
Neurology
Alzheimer Disease as a Clinical-Biological Construct — An International Working Group Recommendation
In response to the 2024 Alzheimer Association criteria, which define AD as a purely biological entity, the IWG reaffirms that a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease requires both a recognised clinical phenotype and supportive biomarker evidence. The paper introduces a three-tier lexicon — At-Risk, Presymptomatic AD, and Alzheimer Disease — and provides four key recommendations for clinical practice, research, and public health.
Read the full framework on this site → View on JAMA Neurology →Original version of the paper — requires a journal account ⬇ Download NIHMS version →🤝 Authors' Institutions
The IWG consortium brings together leading academic medical centres and research institutions across 4 continents.
🔍 Explore the Website
Navigate the key sections of this site.