SORS/WomenInBSC: "Sex and Gender Differences in Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease"

Date: 30/May/2024 Time: 12:00

Place:

[HYBRID] BSC Auditorium, Floor -1, and Online via Zoom

Primary tabs

Objectives

 

Abstract:

The lecture will cover 1) The epidemiology of dementia with a focus on sex differences in the prevalence and incidence; 2) Potential factors contributing to these differences, and the evidence to date on sex and gender differences in various dementia risk and protective factors; 3) The sex differences in diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, clinical presentation and behavioural symptoms; 4) Recent considerations on sex differences in multidomain lifestyle interventions; 5) Sex differences in pharmacological clinical trials and the potential implications; 6) Disparities and inequities in Alzheimer’s disease research and their potential determinants and implications; 7) Patient and public involvement, engagement & participation; 8) Data disaggregation and reporting of results. The session will end with a discussion on how new collaborative initiatives can address the research gaps and advance this important research are.

Short Bio:
Shireen Sindi is Assistant Professor at Karolinska Institute, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Division of Clinical Geriatrics. Her doctoral studies at McGill University (Canada) have focused on the associations between stress hormones, memory performance and hippocampal volume. Shireen is currently working within the Nordic Brain Network (PI: Professor Miia Kivipelto). The following summarises her current research activities in different projects related to preventive interventions for dementia and their implementation, as well as dementia risk factors such as psychological and physiological stress, sleep and associated biomarkers: PI and Scientific Coordinator: Multi-centre sleep study.
 
The project combines four Nordic population-based studies (From Sweden and Finland) to assess the associations between sleep and dementia, cognition, MRI measures, biomarkers. Scientific and Research Coordinator: Multimodal preventive trials for Alzheimer’s Disease: towards multinational strategies (MIND-AD) (http://www.mind-ad.eu/). The goal is to identify effective prevention strategies for dementia based on experiences/data from 5 ongoing European dementia prevention trials. For the first time, a pilot trial will test a multimodal preventive intervention among patients with prodromal Alzheimer’s disease. Scientific and Research Coordinator: Multimodal strategies to promote a healthy brain in aging: Innovative evidence-based tools (MULTI-MODE). The goal is to develop and commercialise innovative evidence-based eHealth tools for dementia risk prediction and multidomain lifestyle intervention to prevent cognitive impairment/dementia.
 
The products are designed for usage by citizens and health professionals.(http://ki.se/en/nvs/eit-health-project-aims-to-prevent-dementia-by-developing-new-innovations). Scientific and Research Coordinator: Cortisol and Stress in Alzheimer’s Disease (Co-STAR). Investigation of stress-related clinical and biomarker profiles and their association with cognition/dementia and neuroimaging correlates, in a population of memory clinic patients at the Karolinska University Hospital (Huddinge) Memory Clinic Conducting analyses & writing articles: The role of telomere length in the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER). Conducting analyses & writing articles: The role of midlife work-related stress and dementia, cognition and MRI measures in the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Incidence of Dementia study (CAIDE) She is also actively involved in supervision, teaching & several academic activities.

Speakers

Speaker: Shireen Sindi. Assistant Professor at Karolinska Institute, Department of Neurobiology, Sweden.
Host: Davide Cirillo. Leading researcher, Machine Learning for Biomedical Research, Life Sciences, BSC.