Approved Research

Validation of two dementia risk scores: the revised ANU ADRI and a new risk assessment tool (CogDrisk).

Lay summary

Dementia is a global health priority. With population ageing there is an increase in number of dementia cases which is expected to reach 152 million cases by 2050 (World Alzheimer's Report 2018). With no effective treatment, the focus has shifted towards preventing or delaying onset of dementia. Dementia risk scores aim at identifying individuals at high risk of developing dementia. The aim of this project is to validate two dementia risk tools, the revised ANU-ADRI and the CogDrisk on mid-life cohort studies such as the UK Biobank and Whitehall II study. These risk scores have been validated in late-life studies. As there are mid-life specific risk factors like obesity, overweight and high cholesterol which could not be accounted for in the calculation of the risk score in late-life studies, we are now interested to validate these risk scores in mid-life studies. We hypothesise that the two risk scores will be valid and that the revised ANU ADRI will accurately predict Alzheimer's disease while the CogDrisk will accurately predict both dementia and AD cases.

This research is anticipated to take up to 18 months to complete. The CogDrisk will be used by clinicians, public health officials and researchers to evaluate dementia risk at the individual and population level. We anticipate that the CogDrisk tool will encourage people to adopt and maintain healthy behaviours, ultimately helping them to reduce the incidence and associated burden of dementia in the long-term.