Tag Archives: Risk

The Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI 2) indicative topic text for Call 5 is now available, with heavy emphasis on Alzheimer’s Disease. The following topics are under consideration for inclusion in the call:

  • Patient perspective elicitation on benefits and risks of medicinal products from development through the entire life cycle, for integration into benefit risk assessments by regulators and health technology assessment bodies
  • Diabetic kidney disease biomarkers (DKD-BM)
  • Inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease (AD): modulating microglia function – focussing on TREM2 and CD33
  • Understanding the role of amyloid biomarkers in the current and future diagnosis and management of patients across the spectrum of cognitive impairment (from pre-dementia to dementia)
  • Evolving models of patient engagement and access for earlier identification of Alzheimer’s disease: phased expansion study
  • Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) biology to validated Alzheimer’s disease targets

Note: All information regarding future IMI Call topics is indicative and subject to change. Final information about future IMI Calls will be communicated after approval by the IMI Governing Board.

Although past research has associated obesity with increased risk of dementia, a new study – deemed the largest ever to assess the link between body mass index and dementia risk – suggests obesity could actually be a protective factor against the condition, while people who are underweight may be at increased risk.

A large retrospective cohort study, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, has revealed a surprising association between being underweight in mid-life and late-life, and increased risk of dementia.

The study assessed the medical records of almost 2 million people in the UK in order to gain a better understanding of how obesity affects dementia risk. The researchers found that, compared with adults who had a healthy BMI (between 20-25 kg/m2), those who were underweight – defined in this study as a BMI less than 20 kg/m2 – during middle age were 34% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia. This increased risk remained for 15 years after adults’ underweight status was recorded.

The team notes that participants with a BMI of less than 18.5 kg/m2 are usually classed as underweight, but the threshold was raised in this study to allow comparisons with past studies, which have defined a BMI of less than 20 kg/m2 as underweight.

The researchers also found that middle-aged adults’ risk of dementia steadily reduced as their BMI increased. Compared with adults who had a healthy BMI, those who were severely obese (BMI greater than 40 kg/m2) were 29% less likely to develop dementia. The team says their results remained even after accounting for factors associated with increased dementia risk, including smoking and alcohol consumption. In addition, the results were not affected by adults’ age at dementia diagnosis or the decade in which they were born, according to the researchers.

Source: Medical News Today