Otago scientists develop tool to estimate dementia risk
Dunedin scientists have helped develop an internationally groundbreaking tool that estimates a person's risk of getting dementia and other age-related diseases.
It uses a single MRI scan that can be done in mid-life and before someone is showing any signs of the conditions.
Otago University scientists worked with Duke and Harvard universities in the United States and have published their findings in the prestigious medical journal Nature Aging this week.
Data from Otago's Dunedin Study - which has followed 1037 participants since they were born in 1972 and 1973 - has been critical in the work.
That study looked at changes in blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels, tooth and gum health and other body functions over 20 years to see how quickly people were ageing.
That data was then compared with an MRI taken when the study participants were 45 and a tool - an algorithm known as Dunedin PACNI - was developed that can look at anyone's MRI and estimate how they might age.
Dunedin Study director Professor Moana Theodore said study members who had higher or faster PACNI scores were more likely to have poorer health.
"And also poorer physical functioning, things like walking and balance, and also poorer cognitive function, things like poorer memory even though they were, at that stage in their mid 40s," she said.
The new tool was then tested out on 50,000 brain scans from data on people aged 50-89 in other parts of the world.
"In those studies of older people we were able to identify things like the development of chronic disease, so, an increased likelihood of heart attacks or strokes, an increased risk of being diagnosed with dementia over time and even an increased mortality," she said.
The study found those who were ageing faster had more shrinkage in the hippocampus region of the brain and performed worse on cognitive tests.
Professor Theodore said the tool could help change outcomes for people.
"If we can predict ageing, especially in mid-life.... then what we are able to do is prevent, possibly intervene earlier on to stop or slow down age related diseases like dementia for which there is currently no clear treatment," she said
She and her team were incredibly proud of the work - and she thanked the Dunedin Study members and their families for their 50 year contribution.
"It's wonderful to have a New Zealand study that is at the forefront of international research on ageing and how to support people to age positively and well and how to reduce age related diseases that cause people to have poorer quality of life later in life," she said.
DunedinPACNI will be freely available for scientists around the world to use to further their own work on ageing.
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