Grant: Foundation Grant

Dementia is Canada's largest, and growing, public health problem, affecting more than 500,000 Canadians and costing more than either cardiovascular disease or cancer. There is encouraging evidence that, for persons of a given age, the risk for dementia has decreased somewhat. Other scientists have proposed that this is because people's brains are healthier (that is, that they have more cognitive reserve) or that they are less like to get silent strokes (small strokes seen on brain scans in people at risk for cognitive decline), but without proof. Meanwhile, the risk for Alzheimer's disease has probably not changed, and it remains incurable. My Foundation program is designed to identify the factors that promote healthier brain aging and lower risk of silent strokes, and to explore new ways of diagnosing and monitoring symptomatic patients. My background in neurology, epidemiology, and neuroimaging has prepared me well for this work. At the University of Calgary I have established one of the world's largest brain MRI analysis centres. Leading a national team of Program Experts, I will examine risk for stroke and cognitive decline in persons recruited from the community in two studies (with 9,700 and 1,500 participants) all of whom have had a brain MRI. We will repeat the brain MRI in six years in 1,500 to see who has had new silent strokes or excessive brain tissue loss (i.e., atrophy). We will look at many potential protective factors including education, occupation, income, diet, physical activity, social activities, and stress levels. In another study I will examine markers of disease-related brain changes in persons with Alzheimer's disease and a related blood vessel condition called cerebral amyloid angiopathy. These studies will point to effective strategies to promote brain health and to diagnose and monitor symptomatic patients.