Timeframe
2023-2025
Funding
Center to Accelerate Population Research in Alzheimer’s (CAPRA), University of Michigan
COMPASS staff
Barry Milne
Stephanie D’Souza
Collaborators
University of Michigan
Leah Richmond-Rakerd
Lara Khalifeh
Duke University
Avshalom Caspi
Terrie Moffitt
Monica Iyer
Community partners
Alzheimer’s New Zealand
Description
Infections have been hypothesised to be involved in the etiology of dementia, but most prior research has involved either patients already diagnosed with dementia or cohort studies with only short-term follow-up. Including participants from younger ages – before the period of dementia onset – and following them for longer periods of time will improve our understanding of the temporal relationship between infections and dementia.
This research will assess associations among multiple types of infections and subsequent dementia across a 30-year period to answer the research questions:
- Are infections associated with subsequent dementia in the New Zealand population?; and
- Are associations present across different types of infections, and across both Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias?
This research will contribute to the scientific understanding of links between infections and dementia, which may lead to the development of better treatments and prevention efforts.