Vladimir Hachinski, D.SC.
Lawson Health Research Institute
London, Canada

2008 Investigator-Initiated Research Grant

Evidence suggests that people are more likely to take measures to prevent Alzheimer's disease if they know their own individual risk for developing the disease. Scientists have developed accurate "risk scores" for determining an individual’s risk of suffering from stroke and many other disease events. These scores are based on statistical analyses. However, accurate risk scores for Alzheimer's disease do not yet exist.

Vladimir Hachinski, D.SC., and colleagues propose to develop a reliable risk score for Alzheimer's disease and dementia. For this effort, they will use data from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging, a long-term study involving over 10,000 participants. Nearly 2,000 of the study participants developed dementia. The researchers will employ a variety of statistical methods to obtain their risk score.

An accurate Alzheimer risk score might help physicians better target individual patients for preventative treatments, making overall Alzheimer care more effective and cost efficient.