Publications by authors named "Brodaty H"
Background: We investigated the effectiveness of an Interdisciplinary Home-bAsed Reablement Programme (I-HARP) on improving functional independence, health and well-being of people with dementia, family carer outcomes and costs.
Method: A multicentre pragmatic parallel-arm randomised controlled trial compared I-HARP to usual care in community-dwelling people with mild to moderate dementia and their family carers in Sydney, Australia (2018-2022). I-HARP is a 4-month, home-based, dementia rehabilitation model delivered by an interdisciplinary team.
Article Synopsis
- * Over 16,000 patients were screened, revealing a high prevalence of CI (37.8%) and a significantly higher rate of hospital-acquired complications (HACs) in those with CI, but the intervention did not lead to a significant reduction in HAC rates.
- * The results showed variations in the program’s implementation across hospitals, and despite some slight overall reductions in HAC rates, these changes were not statistically significant, suggesting the need for further refinement in intervention strategies.
Article Synopsis
- White matter hyperintensities (WMH) increase with age and vary significantly between individuals, prompting the need for age- and sex-specific data for better assessment.
- This study pooled data from nearly 15,000 healthy individuals aged 18-97 to analyze WMH volumes using MRI and established centile curves based on age and sex.
- Findings reveal that WMH volumes increase significantly with age, with females having larger volumes, and these changes follow different patterns based on specific white matter locations, providing valuable normative data for clinical interpretations.
Objectives: This paper aimed to develop a model to describe help-seeking for dementia diagnosis. The practical model is intended to guide public health interventions to increase help-seeking.
Method: The model was developed by our multidisciplinary team based on qualitative semi-structured interviews in English ( = 33) and Chinese ( = 8) with older people, people with dementia and carers.
Background: We aimed to develop risk tools for dementia, stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), and diabetes, for adults aged ≥ 65 years using shared risk factors.
Methods: Data were obtained from 10 population-based cohorts (N = 41,755) with median follow-up time (years) for dementia, stroke, MI, and diabetes of 6.2, 7.
Article Synopsis
- Subcortical brain structures play a crucial role in various developmental and psychiatric disorders, and a study analyzed brain volumes in 74,898 individuals, identifying 254 genetic loci linked to these volumes, which accounted for up to 35% of variation.
- The research included exploring gene expression in specific neural cell types, focusing on genes involved in intracellular signaling and processes related to brain aging.
- The findings suggest that certain genetic variants not only influence brain volume but also have potential causal links to conditions like Parkinson’s disease and ADHD, highlighting the genetic basis for risks associated with neuropsychiatric disorders.
Article Synopsis
- The SKT is a cognitive test that evaluates memory and mental processing speed, and recent updates in 2019 established new standards for its use in English.
- This study aimed to set valid cut-off scores to differentiate between no cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia, and to validate these norms against a sample of older adults with clinical diagnoses.
- Results showed the SKT has an 80.6% sensitivity for identifying cognitive impairment, indicating it is an effective tool for detecting early stages of cognitive issues among older adults.
Article Synopsis
- Subcortical brain structures play a crucial role in various disorders, and a study analyzed the genetic basis of brain volumes in nearly 75,000 individuals of European ancestry, revealing 254 loci linked to these volumes.
- The research identified significant gene expression in neural cells, relating to brain aging and signaling, and found that polygenic scores could predict brain volumes across different ancestries.
- The study highlights genetic connections between brain volumes and conditions like Parkinson's disease and ADHD, suggesting specific gene expression patterns could be involved in neuropsychiatric disorders.
Article Synopsis
- Social health in dementia is gaining attention, highlighting the need for understanding social health markers that can aid in developing interventions and measures.
- An international qualitative study across six countries (Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Poland, Netherlands) involved interviews with various stakeholders, including people with dementia and caregivers, to identify both known and new social health markers.
- The study identified 67 participants and revealed social health markers such as loneliness and novel concepts like compliance with social norms and the role of social networks, emphasizing the importance of both individual and social environmental factors in dementia care.
Article Synopsis
- Poststroke cognitive impairment is common, but the exact changes in cognitive function following a first stroke compared to pre-stroke levels are not fully understood.
- The study aimed to track cognitive performance over time in stroke survivors versus individuals without strokes, using data from 14 international cohorts of older adults.
- Results showed that incident stroke led to a significant immediate drop in overall cognitive skills and accelerated decline in cognitive abilities over time.
Background: We conducted a secondary analysis of a cohort study to examine the World Falls Guidelines algorithm's ability to stratify older people into sizable fall risk groups or whether minor modifications were necessary to achieve this.
Methods: Six hundred and ninety-three community-living people aged 70-90 years (52.4% women) were stratified into low, intermediate and high fall risk groups using the original algorithm and a modified algorithm applying broader Timed Up and Go test screening with a >10-s cut point (originally >15 s).
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated how individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia perform on social cognition tests, comparing these results to those without cognitive impairment.
- It involved a cross-sectional analysis of 321 older adults aged 80 and above, utilizing various social cognitive assessment tools and screening for levels of apathy and neurocognitive function.
- Findings indicated that participants with dementia showed notably worse social cognitive abilities compared to those with MCI and no cognitive impairment, particularly in emotional recognition and perspective-taking tasks.
Article Synopsis
- - Increased research in neuroscience aims to understand how brain structure and function work together to influence cognitive behaviors, especially in the context of aging.
- - A new index called the Coupling in Brain Structural connectome and Functional connectome (C-BSF) was developed to measure the relationship between brain structure and function in older adults, utilizing advanced imaging techniques from two large cohorts.
- - Findings show that structure-function coupling is strongest in the visual network and that weaker coupling correlates with older age and poorer cognitive performance, suggesting important connections between aging, brain function, and cognitive abilities.
Introduction: Promising evidence is emerging for the procognitive, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties of dietary flavonoids, particularly anthocyanins that provide red, purple and blue plant pigments.
Methods And Analysis: The 'Food for Thought' study is a multicentre, 6-month randomised, parallel 3-arm clinical trial. Its primary aim is to investigate whether anthocyanin consumption, either through diet or supplementation, can prevent memory loss progression and improve inflammatory and cardiovascular health in older adults at risk for dementia.
Background: Due to the need to increase social awareness about dementia and the needs of patients living with dementia in Poland, the (eng. ) campaign was created. The aim of the study was to evaluate its effectiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDoes Mild Functional Impairment Predict Dementia in Older Adults With Normal Cognition?
Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord
August 2024
Objectives: Functional impairment can be an early indicator of cognitive decline. However, its predictive utility in cognitively normal (CN) older adults remains unclear. This study aimed to determine whether mild functional impairment (MFI) in CN older adults could predict incident dementia over 6 years, in addition to assessing its association with cognitive performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Multicomponent interventions with carers of people with dementia demonstrate positive effects on the health and quality of life for carers and care recipients. The World Health Organization's iSupport for Dementia is an evidence-based online psychoeducation programme for carers. However, the programme was mainly implemented as a self-learning tool which might have limited its positive effects on carers and care recipients.
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- Structural neuroimaging studies reveal both common and disorder-specific gray matter deficits across various psychiatric conditions.
- Large-scale data pooling helps identify potential neuroanatomical factors linked to mental illness vulnerability, although data-sharing faces significant challenges.
- Using a federated analysis across eight research sites, the study found overlapping gray matter patterns in schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and autism spectrum disorder, suggesting shared cortical and subcortical vulnerabilities.
Background: Few studies evaluated the contribution of long-term elevated blood pressure (BP) towards dementia and deaths. We examined the association between cumulative BP (cBP) load and dementia, cognitive decline, all-cause and cardiovascular deaths in older Australians. We also explored whether seated versus standing BP were associated with these outcomes.
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- The study looked at how people aged 95 and older, called centenarians, stay healthy and live long lives.
- They found 34 studies that showed most centenarians live in rural areas, are mostly women, and have a balanced diet with low smoking and drinking habits.
- The research highlighted that good diet, weight control, and factors like sleep and living in the countryside help them age successfully.
Structural neuroimaging data have been used to compute an estimate of the biological age of the brain (brain-age) which has been associated with other biologically and behaviorally meaningful measures of brain development and aging. The ongoing research interest in brain-age has highlighted the need for robust and publicly available brain-age models pre-trained on data from large samples of healthy individuals. To address this need we have previously released a developmental brain-age model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCellular senescence, a hallmark of aging, plays an important role in age-related conditions among older adults. Targeting senescent cells and its phenotype may provide a promising strategy to delay the onset or progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this review article, we investigated efficacy and safety of nutrition senotherapy in AD, with a focus on the role of polyphenols as current and potential nutrition senotherapeutic agents, as well as relevant dietary patterns.
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- Increases in harmful drinking among older adults have raised concerns about its impact on brain health, prompting a study focused on the relationship between alcohol consumption and changes in brain structure over time.
- The study analyzed data from 530 participants aged 70 to 90, assessing various brain regions and volumes over a 6-year period while considering average alcohol intake and binge-drinking behaviors.
- Results indicated that low-level alcohol consumption was associated with less brain atrophy in certain areas, while heavier drinking and binge-drinking were linked to poorer white matter integrity and greater atrophy in the corpus callosum.
Article Synopsis
- A study involving 7,801 older adults examined the connection between fruit and vegetable consumption and the development of depression, finding that higher fruit intake was linked to a lower risk of depression.
- Over a follow-up period of 3 to 9 years, 21% of participants developed depression, with fruit intake showing a significant protective effect, while vegetable intake did not show a notable association.
- The authors noted limitations due to varied measurement methods and the relatively modest sample size, suggesting further research is needed on fruit and vegetable consumption in larger, more standardized studies among older adults in low- and middle-income countries.