On July 22nd, 2024, Frontiers in Psychiatry published research co-authored by AFAR Grantee M. Brandon Westover, MD, PhD, on the effectiveness of raising McCance-Center-developed Brain Care Scores (BCS) to not only reduce the risk of conditions such as dementia and stroke but also provide potential protection against late-life depression.
The introduction states:
“Late-life depression, dementia and stroke and are amongst the age-related brain diseases with the highest prevalence and incidence worldwide. Late-life depression, usually characterized as primary depression occurring in individuals over the age of 60, has significant implications. It not only increases mortality and morbidity rates but also imposes a considerable economic burden, both directly through healthcare costs and indirectly through impacts on productivity and societal roles... Our hypothesis is that a higher baseline BCS in the UKB cohort, which indicates better brain care, would be associated with a lower incidence of late-life depression – in line with the findings for baseline BCS in the UKB and subsequent dementia and stroke incidence. Through demonstrating that the Brain Care Score (BCS) serves as a reliable predictor for brain health events, we aim to further substantiate its utility as a clinically relevant tool.”
This research was advanced in part thanks to the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Breakthroughs in Gerontology (BIG) Award which Dr. Westover received in 2018.
Read the article, “The predictive validity of a Brain Care Score for late-life depression and a composite outcome of dementia, stroke, and late-life depression: data from the UK Biobank cohort” here.
Learn more in related Mass General Brigham press release here.
