Associations of physical multimorbidity patterns and heart structure with cognition and neuroimaging outcomes

The project will study the potential associations of physical multimorbidity (such as chronic low back pain, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and knee osteoarthritis), heart structure, lung function and active exercise with cognitive functions. To explain further, physical activity means the time or intensity of daily activity, or other physical performances. Lung functions and heart structure indicate the healthy condition of cardiopulmonary function while cognitive functions mean the variety of mental processes, including memory and decision making. Based on previous studies, the morbidity of cardiometabolic multimorbidity and the risk of incident arrhythmias (which is related to dementia) is related to physical activity. Lung function is known to be influenced by 391 genes, and related to a variety of chronic diseases. The heart structure anomaly can be caused by genes including the GATA family, the MEF2 family and the NK family. Therefore, it is rational to hypothesise that multimorbidity, intensity of daily activity, heart structure and lung health are related to the happening or development of disorder of cognitive functions and the effects are modified by genotypes.
The duration of this project is approximately 3 years. The results of this project will indicate the potential associations between specific genotypes, differentially expressed genes, physical multimorbidity, heart structure, lung function and active exercise and cognitive functions. Therefore, these findings could tell people about possible causes or factors of the development of dementia and extensive brain imaging differences, thereby providing more information for clinicians and therapists to prevent the happening and decrease the risk of these disorders.