We investigate risk and resilience factors associated with cognitive decline and dementia among older adults in several large-scale ongoing epidemiological studies.
A brief description of current epidemiological studies under investigation can be found below.
Population-Based Research for Alzheimer's Innovation (Pop-BRAIN)
UCSF Pop-BRAIN is a multidisciplinary platform aimed at accelerating Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) population-based research and training the next generation of leaders in the field. The program emphasizes the life-course approach, diverse populations, and the inter-relationship of the exposome, social determinants of health, and biological pathways of ADRD.
P.I.: Kristine Yaffe, MD
The Systematic Multi-Domain Alzheimer's Risk Reduction Trial (SMARRT)
The SMARRT study is the first U.S. randomized pilot trial to test a personalized, pragmatic, multi-domain Alzheimer's disease risk reduction intervention. This study will help determine whether Alzheimer's risk reduction can slow cognitive decline in higher-risk patients.
P.I.(s): Kristine Yaffe, MD | Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH
Long-Term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium (LIMBIC): Epidemiology Study
LIMBIC is a multi-center collaboration linking researchers from the DoD, VA, academic universities, and private research institutes to fill the gaps in knowledge about the basic science, risk, outcomes, and effective treatments for mild TBI. The LIMBIC Epidemiological study will build upon our nearly 2 million veteran data repository and examine neurodegenerative outcomes of mild TBI in Veterans over time.
P.I.(s): Kristine Yaffe, MD | David Cifu, MD
Lifecourse CVD Risk and Midlife Cognitive Trajectories and Brain Aging (CARDIA-COG)
The CARDIA-COG study aims to collect cognitive data from the ongoing multisite Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study of 5115 Black and white adults in order to determine cardiovascular risk factors for cognitive aging in the mid to late-life transition and to investigate how these are related to structural brain changes.
P.I.(s): Kristine Yaffe, MD | Stephen Sidney, MD, MPH
Neuroimaging Endophenotypes & Predictors Post-TBI Dementia in A Nationwide Cohort of Veterans
This project aims to create the largest military-relevant TBI MRI dataset that has ever been created to leverage neuroimaging and biomarker discovery via artificial intelligence approaches. The goal is to develop a method for predicting the risk of post-TBI dementia and discover neuroimaging biomarkers that can be used to characterize dementia subtypes among TBI-exposed individuals.
More information on this project can be found here.
P.I.(s): Kristine Yaffe, MD | Duygu Tosun-Turgut, PhD | Raquel Gardner, MD
Sleep Quality and Mechanistic Links to Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders among older Mexican Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites (HABLE-DORMIR)
This project leverages the ongoing Health & Aging Brain among Latino Elders (HABLE) study to determine the association between sleep quality and cognitive impairment including ADRD among community-dwelling Mexican Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites, and to elucidate targeted pathways linking these conditions.
More information on HABLE-DORMIR can be found here.
P.I.(s): Kristine Yaffe, MD | Sid O'Bryant, PhD
Health Disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease Among Mexican Americans (HABS-HD)
The long-term goal of this research is to address two important health disparities faced by Mexican Americans suffering from ADRD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI): (1) younger age of onset and (2) decreased access to early detection and treatment. We will identify different pathways and blood-based biomarkers for MCI and AD among Mexican Americans
More information on the HABS-HD study can be found here.
P.I.(s): Kristine Yaffe, MD | Sid O'Bryant, PhD | Arthur W. Toga, PhD
The goal of this project is to investigate mitochondrial DNA mutations as a blood biomarker of greater cognitive decline and accelerated brain aging during midlife and of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) diagnosis in late life.
More information on this project can be found here.
P.I.(s): Kristine Yaffe, MD | Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD | Lifang Hou, MD, MS, PhD
Military Risk Factors and Dementia in Veterans: The Impact of Race and Social Determinants of Health
The goal of this project is to investigate the effects of military risk factors, social determinants of health, and how they interact with race/ethnicity on the risk of dementia.
P.I.: Kristine Yaffe, MD