Approved Research

The genetics, biomarkers, lifestyles, and neuroimaging for the diagnosis, prediction, and prevention of cognitive/mood disorder.

Lay summary

Most dementias such as Alzheimer's disease have no effective and reversible treatment, and cognitive impairment/dementia has a significant socioeconomic burden. There is no effective treatment for dementia, but early diagnosis and prevention are the keys to the disease. Research has shown that the risk of dementia includes a variety of factors. Except for unchangeable factors such as genes and early education, modifying other risk factors might prevent or delay up to 40% of dementia.

We intend to explore which factors predict dementia onset, cognitive progression, and transition based on the follow-up data in UKBiobank. Late-life depression is a risk factor for dementia, and it has also been suggested that depressive symptoms in old age are the early symptoms of dementia. we also want to use the long-term follow-up cohort of UKBiobank data to detect cognitive changes in elderly with depressive symptoms! and the affected factors. the exploration of early risk factors provides a strong basis for dementia prevention. This project will last for three years. In the future, intervention trials can be conducted based on relevant risk factors, and if the intervention is effective in delaying the onset of the disease in people at risk for dementia, or delaying the progression of the disease, these will greatly reduce the burden on society economically.