Improving brain health to defeat dementia: developing persuasive technology for personalized dementia risk reduction in primary care

The global number of people with dementia has increased during the last decade and will triple by 2050. Policy makers are searching for solutions to reduce this dementia burden. However, while they continue to wait for a “magic bullet’’ to cure dementia, I am convinced that it is high time for preventive action. Robust evidence indicates that health and lifestyle factors such as physical inactivity and hypertension can mitigate dementia risk. Yet, the few existing dementia prevention initiatives are limited: they are not personalized, not targeted at “hard-to-reach groups” (typically low socioeconomic status (SES)), and not suitable for implementation on a large-scale and in a real-life setting. My research project will tackle these challenges by developing, validating and testing a personalized dementia risk reduction strategy in primary care. First, I will use epidemiological and machine-learning approaches to investigate the impact of demographic / diversity variables (sex, educational level, ethnicity / race and SES) on the poly-environmental dementia risk score (consisting of twelve health and lifestyle factors) that I previously developed. This will allow me to identify, based on one’s demographic profile, which risk factors should be addressed to maximize dementia risk reduction. I will develop and validate these tailored dementia risk profiles using pooled data from more than 30 population-based cohort studies of cognitive ageing (75.000 participants). Second, I will conduct a proof-of-concept study, to examine the feasibility of a personalized dementia risk reduction program in general practices. Third, I will use the experience sampling methodology in a pilot study to monitor the impact of the intervention on one’s (brain) health behavior in the flow of daily life. My ultimate aim is to reduce the dementia burden by improving society’s brain health. This comprehensive research project will lead to scientific and practical insight to optimize dementia risk reduction strategies. Further, my project will lay the foundation for future large-scale (inter)national dementia prevention initiatives.