Developing a tool that can predict age-related brain decline and dementia

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-01-09 03:00

Australia; VIC

Photo by Growtika on Unsplash

Australian researchers are in the early stages of developing a tool that could predict the onset of moderate brain function decline and dementia in Alzheimer’s disease to within a couple of years. The team used data from participants in long-term aging and dementia studies to develop a statistical model to predict those participants’ brain function decline using a rating from a neuropsychological test and the person's age. They then checked their prediction against the participants’ actual ages of clinical diagnosis. The researchers say the tool performed consistently and strongly in early testing, though more work will need to be done to validate this

The paper’s corresponding author - The Florey’s Dr Nicholas (Yijun) Pan said: “Our test now needs to be prospectively validated but could potentially be used as a screening tool for people aged over 60 who have no symptoms of mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease, especially for those at risk.”

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, CSIRO

Funder: This project is funded by grant GNT2007912 from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia), grant 13049 from the Telematics Trust, and grant 23AARF-1020292 from the Alzheimer’s Association. Data collection and sharing for this project were funded by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative under grant U01 AG024904 from the National Institutes of Health and award W81XWH-12-2-0012 from the US Department of Defense. The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative is funded by the National Institute on Aging, by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and through generous contributions from the following: AbbVie, Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, Araclon Biotech, BioClinica Inc, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, CereSpir Inc, Cogstate, Eisai Inc, Elan Pharmaceuticals Inc, Eli Lilly and Company, EuroImmun, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and its affiliated company Genentech, Inc, Fujirebio, GE Healthcare, IXICO Ltd, Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy Research & Development, LLC, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC, Lumosity, Lundbeck, Merck & Co Inc, Meso Scale Diagnostics LLC, NeuroRx Research, Neurotrack Technologies, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Pfizer Inc, Piramal Imaging, Servier, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, and Transition Therapeutics. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is providing funds to support Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) clinical sites in Canada. Private sector contributions are facilitated by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.