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For the Pacific NW Magazine, Sandi Doughton interviews ADRC researchers working to find ways to prevent declines in memory and thinking. The article features the Adult Changes in Thought Study, a collaboration between UW Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, and the Allen Institute.
“Probably from the day we’re born … there are things that are happening, whether it’s our diet or the air we breathe or genetics, that are affecting our brains,” says Dr. C. Dirk Keene, head of neuropathology at UW Medicine. “The Adult Changes in Thought Study is able to focus in on this in a way that many others are not.”
Health records, life histories and genetic information are particularly powerful when they can be linked to actual changes in the brain — something that’s only possible due to ACT’s collection of nearly 1,000 donated brains.
“These are so precious. ACT participants are just remarkable in how much they dedicate to this study.” - C. Dirk Keene, MD, PhD in Tracking King County seniors (and their brains) for clues to dementia and Alzheimer’s
You may know factors that raise your risk of Alzheimer's - like being a couch potato, or having high blood pressure - but did you know much of that evidence came from a long-running study of King County seniors @UWMedicine @KPWaResearch ?https://t.co/1gVlBeMfCz via @seattletimes
— Sandi Doughton (@SandiDoughton) April 14, 2023
