Exploring chronic hypoxia as a possible pathway linking clinical conditions of the heart, lungs, and blood with accelerated brain aging

The ultimate goal of this 5-year project is to improve our understanding of chronic conditions of the heart, lungs, and blood (e.g. heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, anemia) in association with accelerated brain lesions, cognitive decline, and dementia.

We hypothesize that chronic cerebral hypoxia is a possible pathway linking these chronic conditions with accelerated progress of brain lesions and cognitive aging.

To achieve the goal, we will carry out four subprojects among older adults that aim at clarifying the following relations: (1) the heart-brain aging relation, (2) the lung-brain aging relation, (3) the blood (anemia)-brain health relation, and (4) the load of chronic hypoxia-brain health relation.

This proposal will be based on two existing longitudinal datasets, where epidemiological, clinical, and cognitive data are integrated with MRI and blood biomarkers of brain lesions: the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (2001-2019, age≥60-years, n=3363; of these, 555 had MRI data) and the Icelandic AGES-Reykjavik Study (2002-2011, age>65-years, n=5764; of these, 5002 had MRI data).

The project will be implemented by a multidisciplinary team with expertise in epidemiology, neurology, geriatrics, cardiology, psychology, neuroimaging, and biostatistics.

Findings from this project will facilitate the development of guidelines for preventive and therapeutic interventions to slow age-related cognitive decline and delay dementia onset.