Reducing Dementia Risk in Older Adults Affected by Cardio-Metabolic Disease

Cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs, including heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes) increase dementia risk.

The goal of this project is to advance our understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying the co-occurrence of CMDs and dementia, and to discover novel compensatory mechanisms against CMDs-associated dementia.

We aim to: 1) Pinpoint specific genes/genomic regions implicated in both diseases; 2) Identify novel metabolic pathways underlying the co-occurrence of CMDs and dementia based on a wide range of metabolites; 3) Explore the association of genetic and metabolic traits with brain lesions for early identification of dementia; 4) Investigate whether compensatory mechanisms due to cognitive reserve, healthy diet, and CMD medications can buffer the risk of CMDs on dementia; and 5) Use machine learning to develop an algorithm to predict dementia in CMDs, based on biological and brain imaging markers, and compensatory factors.This project will be carried out using data from: 1) the Swedish National study on Aging and Care-Kungsholmen (SNAC-K), a cohort study; 2) the HARMONY, a twin study on dementia; 3) the Memory and Aging Project, a neuropathological study in USA; and 4) the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study, a clinical trial.

Metabolomic assessment and brain imaging scans will be performed in SNAC-K.

Findings from this project may provide evidence for innovative treatments and preventative measures for CMDs and dementia, the most common disorders of aging.