Brain News
Researchers at Florida Atlantic University explored how customized multi-domain clinical interventions have better treatment outcomes in Alzheimer’s prevention. The study is published in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The Study
The researchers assessed data from the Comparative Effectiveness Dementia & Alzheimer’s Registry (CEDAR) trial. They recruited participants from an Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic. Subjects with normal cognition, subjective cognitive decline, or asymptomatic preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) were classified as “Prevention”. Subjects with mild cognitive impairment due to AD or mild AD were classified as “Early Treatment”.
The participants underwent baseline clinical assessments like clinical history, blood biomarkers, physical examination, cognitive assessment, etc. Based on the biomarker and clinical data, they were given individually-tailored, multi-domain intervention recommendations.
Recommendations included psychoeducation, dietary counseling, sleep hygiene, stress management, cognitive engagement, general medical care, and other Alzheimer’s disease interventions. The individualized intervention effects in Alzheimer’s prevention were then monitored.
The Findings
With earlier studies establishing that women get Alzheimer’s more than men, the researchers wanted to examine the sex-dependent risks of AD, real-world clinical practices, treatment outcomes, and mortality rates.
Coincidentally, the results revealed that, even though women are disproportionately affected by AD, they are also the ones who show greater improvement than men when it comes to personally-tailored interventions. They show better treatment outcomes across multiple diseases like AD, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc. Nonetheless, it was seen that risk reduction care in any clinical setting led to improvement in the patients’ cognition, regardless of the sex differences.
Elaborating on the importance of the research on Alzheimer’s intervention, one of the lead researchers, Richard S. Isaacson, said: “Our work highlights the need for larger studies focusing on sex differences in AD-related cognitive trajectories, as the existing body of knowledge lacks conclusive evidence on this issue.”
To Know More You May Refer To
Saif, N., Hristov, H., Akiyoshi, K. et al. Sex-Driven Differences in the Effectiveness of Individualized Clinical Management of Alzheimer’s Disease Risk. J Prev Alzheimers Dis (2022). https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2022.44