Changing lives, changing brains: How modern family and work life influences ADRD risks

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The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) is projected to triple by 2050. Currently, there is no known effective treatment for ADRD. Prevention through behavioral changes affecting ADRD risk is therefore of utmost importance, and about 35% of ADRD risk is thought to be attributable to potentially modifiable factors. Current changes in modern family life and work are likely to have important effects on the risk of ADRD, as the work and family structure multiple aspects of individuals lives and environments that are likely to be related to ADRD risks. Yet, work and family trajectories as pathways and moderators of ADRD risk are understudied. Our overall hypothesis is that contemporary changes in family patterns and work lives contribute to age related changes in cognition and ADRD. A shift to “modern” family structures and work tasks have occurred relatively early in Norway, and unique data availability allows these changes to be studied prospectively to predict coming changes in ADRD in the US and other countries. We will study life-course effects of and interactions between family and work in adulthood for risk of ADRD and cognitive impairment in older adults. This will be done by exploiting the exceptional Norwegian HUNT (Nord-Trondelag Health Study) dataset, a large ongoing prospective population that includes cohorts born 1900 – 1960, combined with Norwegian national registry data. Using these population-representative cohorts have exceptionally detailed health and socioeconomic longitudinal data to address these issues. We will take advantage of specific events that create natural experiments. Our results will help to identify “sensitive periods” over the life course and how they mediate genetic risks of cognitive decline and ADRD.