The Goizueta Alzheimer's Disease Research Center

Emory University, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: LIFESTYLE AND EMPOWERMENT CORE The Lifestyle and Empowerment (L&E Core) represents an exciting expansion of research into lifestyle risk factor identification and management at Emory’s Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (GADRC) which aligns with the national call to increase support and research for individuals and families facing Alzheimer’s disease and AD-related dementias (AD/ADRD). The National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) recognizes that lifestyle risk factors are critical to understanding AD/ADRD pathology and resilience and that there is an urgent need for interventions aimed at reducing lifestyle risk factors, especially in individuals from under-represented groups who are at higher risk for AD/ADRD. NAPA’s call to “Accelerate Action to Promote Healthy Aging and Reduce Risk Factors for AD/ADRD” has been directly addressed through the GADRC- affiliated Cognitive Empowerment Program (CEP). The CEP is an innovative research program that delivers structured lifestyle interventions and provides educational resources aimed at slowing or preventing cognitive and functional decline and reducing the impact of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) on quality of life. Over the past four years, the CEP has been successful in using innovative digital technology to evaluate lifestyle biomarkers for greater precision in identifying, monitoring, and managing disease progression, developing an evidence-based lifestyle and empowerment curriculum for MCI, and implementing flexible service delivery models that reduce participation barriers. This is a solid foundation for establishing the L&E Core, which will provide opportunities to expand reach beyond MCI to include healthy aging, individuals with asymptomatic AD and those with non-AD and mixed etiology dementia. The L&E Core will play a crucial role in increasing access to targeted tools and methods for assessing and reducing lifestyle risk factors in ethnoracially and etiologically diverse populations and supporting collection of harmonized lifestyle metrics across GADRC Cores and GADRC-affiliated research and clinical programs. The Specific Aims of the L&E Core are to 1) Harmonize and scale behavioral and digital tools to expand lifestyle risk factor assessment and support enhanced phenotyping across the GADRC; 2) Improve precision in lifestyle intervention delivery and research for diverse populations; and 3) Promote education on lifestyle risk factor management for diverse populations. Achieving these Specific Aims will enable the L&E Core to advance the GADRC and NAPA’s shared goals of slowing or preventing cognitive and functional decline in AD/ADRD by increasing research into identification of lifestyle risk factors, providing culturally-appropriate and disease-specific interventions and education to address disparities in risk factor reduction, and accelerating translation of research into clinical practice.