Project information
Healthy Brain Ageing in Czechia over the life-course
- Project Identification
- NU20J-04-00022
- Project Period
- 5/2020 - 12/2023
- Investor / Pogramme / Project type
-
Ministry of Health of the CR
- Ministry of Health Research Programme 2020 - 2026
- Subprogram 2 - junior
- MU Faculty or unit
- Central European Institute of Technology
- Cooperating Organization
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Nationa Institute of Mental Health
- Responsible person MUDr. Pavla Čermáková, Ph.D.
Brain disorders, such as cognitive impairment and depression, are the strongest contributors to disability in older adults, but the developmental origins of these disorders are still not very well understood. Within this project, we aim to take a life-course perspective and study the role of biological aging on vulnerability to cognitive and affective disorders. In work package 1, we will analyze longitudinal data on cognitive performance and depression from the Czech arm of the study Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe (HAPIEE; n=8 856 individuals, aged 58 years at baseline in 2002, 53% women). Since recent studies suggest that alterations in the brain, previously believed to occur only in later life, are present already in young adults before they reach their 30th birthday, work package 2 of the current project will invite members of the prenatal birth cohort from European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC) who took part in its neuroimaging follow-up in 2015 (n=131; age 23-24; 53% women) to a second neuroimaging follow-up (age 28-29) and assess their DNA epigenetic age, biological age, cardiovascular risk factors, cognition, mood and anxiety. This will allow us to elucidate the impact of biological aging on trajectories of brain function in young adulthood and propose interventions to decrease the burden of brain disorders.
Sustainable Development Goals
Masaryk University is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to improve the conditions and quality of life on our planet by 2030.
Publications
Total number of publications: 13
2021
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Cognitive impairment and depression: Meta-analysis of structural magnetic resonance imaging studies
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Sex differences in the association of childhood socioeconomic position and later-life depressive symptoms in Europe: the mediating effect of education
SOCIAL PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHIATRIC EPIDEMIOLOGY, year: 2021, volume: 56, edition: 6, DOI
2020
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Epigenetic clock as a correlate of anxiety
NeuroImage, year: 2020, volume: 28, edition: 2020, DOI