McKnight Brain Research Foundation Trustees, Dr. Richard Isaacson and Dr. Madhav Thiambisetty, authored a new study showing that lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise and challenging your brain by learning a new skill or starting a new hobby, can help people maintain and even improve memory and reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
The study examined the effects of individualized clinical management among people at risk for cognitive decline in a real-world clinic setting. The study found that after 18 months, people were able to impact their cognitive function in two distinct areas – cognitive change related to Alzheimer’s-related pathology (primary outcome) and cognitive change related to non-pathological cognitive aging (secondary outcome).
Read the full study, Individualized Clinical Management of Patients at Risk for Alzheimer’s Dementia, published in Alzheimers & Dementia, the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
“I am really hopeful about the results of this study. We need more research, studying more patients across different clinics, but I think this model is a roadmap physicians and patients can follow to work together to improve the patient’s brain health. We envision a day where people can go to their doctor and instead of hearing there’s nothing you can do, their doctor can offer suggested lifestyle interventions based on the patient’s individual risk that will help protect their brain health.”
Dr. Richard Isaacson, McKnight Brain Research Foundation Trustee and Founder of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical Center
