RResearchers at New York University Langone Health’s new Optimal Aging Institute join a diverse 10-university cohort to study how vascular risk factors contribute to dementia and other age-related diseases. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded $31 million for the project. Based on existing research, we are targeting people aged 85 and older.

This research is increasingly needed, as by 2034, the number of adults 65 and older is expected to exceed the number of children under 18 in the United States. Although aging is often accompanied by multiple chronic diseases, vascular risk factors identified early in life are powerful predictors. More serious risks later in life, such as dementia and other types of cognitive and physical decline. New research advances our understanding of these risk factors and advances the development of biomarkers that can measure molecules and changes found in body fluids and tissues across all stages of life to signal abnormal processes or diseases. It will be possible.

The research will lead a multidisciplinary team of world-leading scientists and clinicians to advance research to improve the way people age and identify and address risk factors early in life. It is central to the Optimal Aging Institute’s mission to create and connect hubs. Founded in 2023, the institute’s goal is to conduct research that moves from observational epidemiology to biobanking, biomarker discovery, molecular studies, and clinical trials that inform risk factor prediction, prevention, intervention, and policy change. It is to promote.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a division of the NIH, continues its work on one of the longest-running Heart Disease Regional Atherosclerosis Risk-Neurocognitive Research (ARIC-NCS) New York The award was presented to the Institute for Optimal Aging at Université Langone. A health study that included the longest group of black participants tracked for cognition.

Co-leaders include Joseph Koresh, MD, founding director of the Institute, Thomas Mosley, PhD, director of the Center for Memory Disorders and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and Rebecca Gottesman, PhD, director of the Center. became. In the Division of Stroke, Cognition, and Neuroepidemiology at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS, part of the NIH), ARIC-NCS is a study of 15,792 people enrolled in four communities in Maryland, North Carolina, and Mississippi. We’ve been tracking subscribers for over 35 years. Minnesota. This research has led to more than 2,700 publications and has been linked to more than 2 million biobank specimens.

“As human life expectancy increases, there is an urgent need to better understand risk in people aged 85 and older and to discover biomarkers that can explain changes in the risk associations of older people for a wide range of diseases.” Dr. Koresh said. He is also a professor in the Department of Population Health Medicine at New York University Grossman School of Medicine. “Vascular disease is preventable but is associated with heart disease, dementia and kidney disease. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue gathering rigorous evidence on modifiable risk factors in early and late life.”

As part of this funding renewal, Dr. Koresh (who has been collaborating with ARIC since 2002) and research teams from 10 universities nationwide will enroll an initial group of approximately 4,000 participants in their 80s who continue to actively participate in the study. A follow-up investigation is planned. and the ’90s – Built on nearly 40 years of health-related and biomarker data related to cognitive function, physical decline, and age-related diseases. The latest update expands on the acquired data and adds six types of wearable devices that can monitor sleep, physical activity, blood sugar, heart, and more.

Over the next five years, the research team plans to:

• Research blood biomarkers. This includes approximately 5,000 proteins and markers targeting Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia (AD/ADRD). Biomarkers will be studied in relation to dementia, mild cognitive impairment, multi-morbidity and frailty, and decline in cognitive and physical function.
• Assessing the associations and interactions of midlife vascular risk factors, multimorbidity (including sleep disorders), and social determinants of health with blood and brain imaging dementia biomarkers and its progression.
• Vascular risk factors, cognitive and physical function, multimorbidity and dementia, decline in cognitive and physical function across ages (65–84 years and 85 years and older), and their changes according to health status in old age. Contrast the relevance of.
• The study explores the impact of underlying complex diseases, vascular risk factors, and social determinants of health on biomarker levels as well as the timing of their changes and AD/ADRD biomarkers.

Dr. Koresh said that tight integration with partners across the NYU Langone system will enable the Institute to implement and test interventions in real time that have real-world impact and improve outcomes for everyone. He said it could promote research that changes practice.

An epidemiologist, Dr. Koresh is researching impact studies, including biomarker research examining novel proteins and pathways in the blood that may predict and cause cognitive decline, kidney disease, and heart disease 20 years before onset. He has published several powerful studies. He presents the most rigorous evidence to date suggesting that treating hearing loss slows the decline in thinking and memory skills within just three years in hearing-impaired older adults at risk of developing dementia. Co-authored the results of the ACHIEVE clinical trial.

On April 15, Dr. Koresh will moderate a special symposium, “The Population Health Controversy: Strict Blood Pressure Control – Can Dementia Be Prevented in Older Adults?” He will focus on important topics at the intersection of vascular health and aging. The event, co-sponsored by New York University Langone’s Office of Population Health and the Institute for Optimal Aging, will feature six prominent experts in the field who will discuss recent developments in how high blood pressure treatment can prevent dementia. We plan to introduce groundbreaking research. Discussions will be held in public. Registration required.

In addition to NYU Grossman School of Medicine, additional collaborating institutions include Baylor College of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota, University of Mississippi Medical Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of Texas Health Science Center. included. Houston, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, and Washington University in St. Louis.

This research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a division of the NIH (grant number U01HL096812).

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sasha wallek
Phone: 646-501-3873
Sasha.Walek@NYULangone.org