Cognitive and health trajectories
from cognitive healthy to dementia
Background
Individuals show much heterogeneity in predictors and markers of cognitive decline. In this workpackage, we will focus on mapping the multidimensional trajectories of predictors and outcomes of cognitive decline. Specifically, a person can show a favorable trajectory on all variables or a favorable trajectory on some variables and an unfavorable trajectory on others: we will study the concordance and lack thereof in trajectories of social and cognitive outcomes and associated predictors. In addition, qualitative research will enrich the understanding of social health by assessing underlying mechanisms of the interaction between the person with dementia and their social environment.
Aims
- To map the co-occurrence and trajectories of social health and care use in relation to cognitive decline across the entire spectrum from cognitive healthy through mild cognitive impairment to dementia.
- To map the related trajectories of physical (e.g., medical comorbidity and frailty) and mental health factors (e.g., mood) as well as brain and cognitive reserve.
Tasks
- Synthesis of epidemiological data on social health and cognitive decline from the various studies in our consortium to map out the entire longitudinal trajectories of both constructs in the context of dementia.
- Simultaneous descriptive modeling of trajectories of physical (self-rated health, frailty, comorbidity) and mental (mood, neuropsychiatric symptoms) health and well-being, as these parallel social and cognitive health.
- Description of cultural, socio-economic and gender differences in trajectories in social, physical, mental health and cognitive health and use of health and social care.
- Integration of epidemiological with qualitative data from patient diaries and interviews to enrich the understanding of the role of social health in cognitive decline trajectories.
