VCID Basic Research: Understand cerebrovascular and cardiovascular risk factors for dementia (Milestone 2.R)

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Success Criteria

• A national consortium to advance new basic research that provides rigorous and novel insight into how cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular disease, and risk factors in different brain vascular zones, including in both gray matter and white matter, lead to VCID.

Summary of Key Accomplishments

New research indicates the importance of maintaining the best heart health possible for good cognitive health during aging. The results, from a clinical research study in an aging community-based population in the U.S., show that even small decreases in the amount of blood that the heart pumps may be tied to poorer cognitive outcomes during aging including for language, information processing speed, visuospatial skills, and episodic memory. While significant heart disease was already a known risk for brain heath, the discovery that even small changes in heart health may be a risk for cognitive decline during aging is new. Efforts to better understand genetic risks and, importantly for everyday life, to strive for optimal heart health, are further motivated by these findings.

The key accomplishments summary is current as of July 2022.  

Accomplishments/Implementation Activities

Funding Initiatives

• RFA-NS-19-039: Mechanistic Basis of Diffuse White Matter Disease in Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID)(R01)
• RFA-NS-19-012: Post-Stroke Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID) in the United States Including in Health Disparities Populations
• RFA-NS-20-013: White Matter Disease Etiology of Dementia in the U.S. Including in Health Disparities Populations
• NOT-NS-21-039: Innovative Approaches or Technologies to Investigate Regional, Structural and Functional Heterogeneity of CNS Small Blood and Lymphatic Vessels in AD/ADRD
• NOT-NS-21-041: Characterization of Genomics of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines for AD/ADRD Research
• NOT-NS-22-001: Postmortem Pathology, Cellular, and Molecular Analyses to Determine the Significance of White Matter Lesions and other Imaging Findings of Presumed Vascular Origin During Life

Research Programs and Resources

• Diverse VCID: White Matter Lesion Etiology of Dementia in Diverse Populations
• Determinants of Incident Stroke Cognitive Outcomes and Vascular Effects on Recovery (DISCOVERY)
• Select projects funded in FY21
• Select projects funded in FY22

Research Highlights

• NINDS Press Release: Pathogenic tau and cognitive impairment are precipitated by a high-salt diet

Relevant Recommendations

• 2016 ADRD Summit: Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID), Including Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Vascular Dementia (VCID) Focus Area 1: Basic Mechanisms and Experimental Models, Recommendation 3
• 2022 ADRD Summit: Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID) Milestone 3, Priority 4

Related Milestones