Prevent Dementia is a UK and Ireland wide study for people aged 40 – 59.
We use thinking and memory assessments, clinical examinations, MRI brain imaging and genetics to track how the brain changes throughout middle age.
We hope to find ways to predict who is at greatest risk of dementia, so that we can intervene and prevent the disease taking hold.
What’s involved in taking part?
We have five study sites across the UK and Ireland:
The Universities of St Andrews, Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London and Trinity College Dublin.
Volunteers are invited to one of our centres to take part in a range of cognitive, clinical and imaging tests.
These tests form a baseline, against which any future changes can be measured.
Physical health checks
Blood pressure readings, an Electrocardiogram (ECG) a tracing of the heart’s activity, a lung function test, blood tests, height and weight monitoring and a physical exam from a doctor.
Biological sample collection
Blood, urine, saliva and spinal fluid in some participants.
Memory assessments
Memory and thinking tasks are completed which aim to identify subtle changes in cognition.
Brain scanning
Participants will undergo an MRI scan and will be asked to complete some tasks whilst the scan is being carried out.
Lifestyle questionnaires
These cover areas such as diet, personality, history of brain injury, sleep quality and history of stressful life events.
We follow up our volunteers with the same tests at study visits and hope to track them for many years to come.