Publications by authors named "Sakka P"

Article Synopsis
  • Individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) face a higher risk of developing dementia, and the GINGER initiative presents a multicomponent lifestyle intervention approach that includes exercise as a key component for prevention and management.
  • The exercise protocol designed for GINGER targets adults over 55 with SCD and involves a structured program of aerobic, strengthening, balance, and dual-task exercises, delivered three times a week, both in group sessions and at home.
  • The implementation of this exercise protocol was found to be feasible and reliable, showing good adherence and user satisfaction, along with notable improvements in physical health outcomes among participants.
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  • A study of 114 dementia caregivers, average age 55.7, highlighted significant health issues such as sleep dysfunction and low physical activity levels.
  • About 37.2% of caregivers felt rarely or never rested, with 46.5% getting insufficient sleep averaging only 5 to 5.5 hours per night.
  • Dietary habits included high coffee consumption (69.4%) and low exercise levels (62.3% reported no exercise), indicating a need for interventions to improve caregivers' health through better sleep, nutrition, and exercise.
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Estrogen exposure during menstrual years has been associated with late-life neuroprotection. We explored the presence of an age-sensitive menarche window for cognition in old age and the impact of socioeconomic status and education. We compared neuropsychological performance of 1082 older women [Mean = 72.

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  • Carers of people with dementia face a high risk of musculoskeletal injuries due to repetitive physical tasks like lifting and transferring patients.
  • A study found that 69.7% of informal carers and 86.7% of formal carers reported multiple injuries, with lower back injuries being the most common among both groups.
  • The findings highlight the need for better education and support for all carers to prevent injuries and improve the sustainability of care services.
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The possible relationship between Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) and dementia needs further investigation. In the present study, we explored the association between specific biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ) and Tau with the odds of SCD using data from two ongoing studies. In total, 849 cognitively normal (CN) individuals were included in our analyses.

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Our study aimed to explore whether physical condition might affect the association between genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and AD incidence. The sample of participants consisted of 561 community-dwelling adults over 64 years old, without baseline dementia (508 cognitively normal and 53 with mild cognitive impairment), deriving from the HELIAD, an ongoing longitudinal study with follow-up evaluations every 3 years. Physical condition was assessed at baseline through walking time (WT), while a Polygenic Risk Score for late onset AD (PRS-AD) was used to estimate genetic predisposition.

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: Restless legs syndrome/Willis-Ekbom disease (RLS/WED) has occasionally but not consistently been associated with cognitive and most notably language and executive impairment. The present study was conducted to investigate the cognitive trajectories of older individuals with RLS/WED. : Participants were drawn from the randomly selected, older (>64 years), population-based HELIAD cohort.

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Objective: Normative data for older adults may be tainted by inadvertent inclusion of undiagnosed individuals at the very early stage of a neurodegenerative process. To avoid this pitfall, we developed norms for a cohort of older adults without MCI/dementia at 3-year follow-up.

Methods: A randomly selected sample of 1041 community-dwelling individuals (age ≥ 65) received a full neurological and neuropsychological examination on two occasions [mean interval = 3.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study explored how genetic predisposition for white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) relates to developing amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 537 individuals without these conditions at the start.
  • - Results showed that a higher genetic risk score for WMHs increased the likelihood of developing aMCI/AD by 47.2%, especially in older adults, who had a 3.4-fold higher risk.
  • - The findings suggest that cognitive reserve (measured by education) affects this relationship, with lower cognitive reserve linked to a greater risk of aMCI/AD associated with genetic predisposition for WMHs.
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What is the impact of long COVID-19 on people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia? Self-reported questionnaire was used for the report of long COVID-19 symptoms. People with MCI or dementia or their caregivers regarding patients' health were recruited COVID-19 throughout from the Athens Alzheimer's Association. We included 72 participants.

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Objectives: To study (i) the prevalence of mild and moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms in the entire spectrum of cognitive ageing in Greece and (ii) the relationship between these symptoms and demographic and clinical data.

Methods: The study was based on the randomly selected cohort of the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD). Depressive symptoms were assessed with the 15-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale.

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of prodromal PD (pPD) with trajectories of healthy aging, according to its latest definition by the WHO. In a sample of 1,226 older adults (704 women), PD diagnosis was reached through standard clinical research procedures. Probability of pPD was calculated according to the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society's research criteria for PD-free participants.

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The present study explored the utilization of verbal fluency (VF) cognitive strategies, including clustering, switching, intrusions, and perseverations, within both semantic (SVF) and phonemic (PVF) conditions, across a continuum of neurocognitive decline, spanning from normal cognitive ageing (NC) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and its subtypes, amnestic (aMCI) and non-amnestic (naMCI), as well as AD. The study sample was derived from the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD) cohort. The sample included 1607 NC individuals, 146 with aMCI (46 single-domain and 100 multi-domain), 92 with naMCI (41 single-domain and 51 multi-domain), and 79 with AD.

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Background: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a self-evaluation of cognitive impairment, in the absence of observed objective cognitive deficits on a neuropsychological assessment. Frailty refers to a multidimensional syndrome where the individual has poor health including falls, disabilities, hospitalization, and vulnerability. Both terms are associated with cognitive decline and increased incidence of dementia.

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The increase in the population's life expectancy leads to an increase in the incidence of dementia and, therefore, in diseases such as Alzheimer's. Towards this direction, the HELIAD study is the first large-scale epidemiological study aimed at assessing epidemiological data on dementia, mild mental decline, and other neuropsychiatric disorders associated with old age. This is a huge study with several computational challenges, most of which can be addressed by machine learning processes.

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Given the increase in the aging population and thus in the prevalence of dementia, the identification of protective factors against cognitive decline is necessary. In a cohort of 1076 non-demented adults ≥ 65 years old (59.7% women) from the HELIAD study, we assessed whether changes in body mass index (BMI) were associated with changes in cognition over a 3-year follow-up period separately for those ≤ 75 and >75 years old.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to explore how genetic risk factors influence the link between following the Mediterranean diet and the incidence of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) among older adults participating in the HELIAD longitudinal study, which followed 537 individuals over three years.
  • - Researchers used a Polygenic Index for late-onset AD to categorize participants and found that both genetic risk and adherence to the Mediterranean diet were significant factors affecting AD risk, with 28 participants developing AD by the end of the study.
  • - Results indicated that older adults with a low genetic risk (low PGI-AD) who had poor adherence to the Mediterranean diet faced a much higher risk of developing AD compared to those with better adherence, highlighting the importance of considering genetic factors in dietary interventions
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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers developed a polygenic risk score (PRSAβ42) to assess the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), while also exploring how cognitive reserve (CR), measured by years of education, affects this risk.
  • In a study involving 618 cognitively normal individuals over an average of nearly 3 years, they used COX models to analyze the relationship between PRSAβ42, CR, and the incidence of AD/aMCI.
  • Findings indicated that higher PRSAβ42 correlated with increased risk of AD/aMCI, while greater CR was associated with reduced risk, highlighting a significant interaction where high CR offered substantial protection against AD/aMCI particularly among
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  • Numerous studies highlight the significance of the IL-6 pathway in the development of frailty, yet the direct causal relationship remains unclear.
  • This research utilized genetic variants linked to decreased IL-6 signaling as proxies to study their impact on frailty in 11,171 participants from the HELIAD study.
  • Findings suggest that lower IL-6 signaling genetically corresponds to a reduced risk of frailty, indicating a potential causal role of IL-6 in the condition.
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Background And Purpose: Lifestyle factors have been implicated in the long-lasting neurodegenerative process in prodromal Parkinson's disease (pPD). The aim was to investigate the associations between adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MeDi) and longitudinal changes of pPD probability and the development of Parkinson's disease (PD) or pPD in a Mediterranean older population.

Methods: Data from the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet cohort (community-dwelling individuals, aged ≥ 65 years) were used.

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Although research has generally shown a negative association between depression and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MeDi), the literature related to older adults is controversial, perhaps partially due to the fact that cognitive status has not been considered. The aim of the current work was to investigate the association between MeDi and incident depression in a representative cohort of people, taking into account their cognitive status in multiple ways. The sample was drawn from the HELIAD study, a longitudinal study including a follow-up of 3 years after the baseline assessment.

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We investigated the diagnostic accuracy of the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) in discriminating Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and dementia from normal cognition. Additionally, its clinical utility in predicting the transition from normal cognition to MCI and dementia over the course of several years was explored. In total, 1037 older adults (633 women) who completed the CDT in a baseline assessment were drawn from the population-based HELIAD cohort.

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Background: The aging of global population has increased the scientific interest in the concept of healthy aging and its determinants.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of sleep characteristics with trajectories of healthy aging.

Design And Setting: Prospective observational study conducted in two cities, Maroussi and Larissa.

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: The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic value of the qualitative components of verbal fluency (clustering, switching, intrusions, and perseverations) on the development of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. : Participants were drawn from the multidisciplinary, population-based, prospective HELIAD (Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet) cohort. Two participant sets were separately analysed: those with normal cognition and MCI at baseline.

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