More than 500,000 Canadians currently live with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, affecting one out of every four Canadians over the age of 85. Before COVID-19, this number was expected to nearly double by 2030, and the pandemic is likely speeding that growth due to both the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 on the brain. Thus, addressing the public health crisis of dementia has become even more urgent.

Currently, there is no effective medication on the market to prevent, treat, or reverse the course of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. However, we may be able to predict dementia years before its onset, intervene early, develop better models of care, and change the future. If we can delay the onset of dementia by just five years, we will decrease its incidence by 50 per cent.

Predictive Neuroscience for Healthy Aging

Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI) is a preeminent international centre for the study of aging and human brain function. Scientists at the RRI are paving the way toward the new field of predictive neuroscience to optimize aging and tackle the dementia crisis. This emerging field brings together artificial intelligence, neuroinformatics, physical and digital biomarkers, neuroimaging, environmental and societal data, and clinical and cognitive neuroscience to model and predict how people will age in the future.

With predictive neuroscience, we can drive new approaches to prevention, early detection, and care. We can prevent cognitive decline by detecting its behavioural and biological markers as early as possible, ideally before there are any memory-related symptoms. Additionally, we can guide people toward the right lifestyle choices to reduce their risk of dementia.

Preventing Dementia with Brain Health Prescriptions

For decades, Baycrest researchers have made critical contributions to our understanding of lifestyle factors that can reduce our chances of developing dementia. Recent research suggests that we can reduce our risk of dementia by up to 40 per cent by modifying such factors as managing stress, addressing hearing loss, maintaining a brain-healthy diet, and exercising regularly.

As the scientific headquarters of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), a network of over 300 leading scientists and clinicians across Canada, the RRI is working collaboratively to enhance our understanding of how these lifestyle factors interact to prevent dementia. Baycrest's Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness focuses exclusively on dementia prevention and serves as the flagship living laboratory for the CCNA's National Dementia Prevention Program. Kimel members will participate in research and receive individualized assessments and interventions to address their dementia risk profile, including diet, exercise, cognitive training, stress reduction, social interaction, and brain stimulation. The aim is to create personalized brain health prescriptions to help older adults live longer and better.

For decades, Baycrest researchers have made critical contributions to our understanding of lifestyle factors that can reduce our chances of developing dementia.
DR. ALLISON SEKULER

Harnessing the Power of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to Defeat Dementia

At Baycrest's Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic, research is embedded in clinical care, allowing clinicians and researchers to identify factors that may influence the development of cognitive decline and dementia. Predictive neuroscience in the clinic combines artificial intelligence with clinical data to optimize care, for instance, to enhance client triaging for services that are urgently needed, as well as to develop personalized client care planning in the form of precision medicine.

We Must Tackle the Complex Challenges of an Aging Population Together

To accelerate brain health research and predictive neuroscience across the province and globally, open science is crucial as it makes knowledge and discovery open to researchers around the world. By adopting open science principles, Baycrest is creating a pathway to accelerate research, discovery, and innovation that will benefit older adults everywhere and help them age fearlessly.

Whether it is including Baycrest's unique data in international, online databases accessible by other researchers; sharing research materials so other research groups do not have to "reinvent the wheel;" or publishing results in open access sources, the RRI is working to bring aging and brain health science to the world. Our groups are also developing methods to democratize science, bringing neuroimaging and cognitive assessment techniques into the community, and creating mobile testing labs to increase community engagement and diversify research participants for maximum societal impact. Finally, we are actively training the next generation of scientists to continue pushing the boundaries of aging, brain health, and predictive neuroscience research.

Developing Solutions for and with Older Adults

It is crucial that older adults be involved in all aspects of the process of optimizing aging. Recently launched by the Baycrest-led Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), Leap is a revolutionary new platform that puts older adults and their care partners right at the centre of innovation. Leap creates meaningful opportunities for participants across Canada to share stories; raise awareness of their lived experiences; and learn about brain health, technology, and innovations. In Leap, older adults and caregivers can test the concept, design, and usability of solutions and provide innovators, researchers, and policymakers with critical feedback.

As we enter a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and keep learning about its long-term impacts on brain health, we must continue to work to defeat dementia and provide everyone with the tools they need to make their later years the best years of their lives, so that every older adult can Fear No Age^™.