Landmark 69-year study to provide window into dementia

A landmark study that has been following a group of people since their birth in the same week in March 1946 is now turning its focus to the risk factors and early signs of dementia. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers led by Dr Jonathan Schott and Professor Nick Fox at the Dementia Research Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology and Professor Marcus Richards at the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL is studying 500 members of the unique MRC National Survey of Health and Development as volunteers approach their 70th birthday, to gain crucial insight into Alzheimer's and other dementias. The new research has been made possible by a £5m funding boost from Alzheimer's Research UK, Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation, the Medical Research Council (MRC) Dementias Platform UK and the Wolfson Foundation. The MRC National Survey of Health and Development initially tracked 5,362 people since their birth in 1946, and 2,800 remain under active follow-up. Originally set up to explore the impact of maternity care on child health and development after World War Two, the unique cohort has contributed to almost seven decades of pioneering research shedding light on infant development, educational attainment and cognitive function in midlife. By combining sophisticated brain scanning techniques with sensitive memory testing we hope to gain insights into the brain changes occurring as part of healthy ageing and how these differ from very early Alzheimer's disease. Dr Jonathan Schott As volunteers now approach later life, the UCL team is using multi-modal MRI and amyloid PET brain scanning along with a wide array of cognitive and neurological tests to gain a window into what's happening in the brains of 500 of the volunteers as they age.