Lifestyle and Risk Factors of Dementia in Rural West Texas

Issue title: Healthy Aging and Dementia Research

Guest editors: P. Hemachandra Reddy

Article type: Review Article

Authors: Reddy, P. Hemachandra^{a; b; c; d; e; *}

Affiliations: [a] Professor of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA | [b] Neuroscience & Pharmacology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA | [c] Neurology, Departments of School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA | [d] Public Health Department of Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA | [e] Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, School Health Professions, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: P. Hemachandra Reddy, PhD, Professor of Internal Medicine, Neuroscience & Pharmacology, Neurology, Public Health and Speech Language and Hearing Sciences Departments, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 3601 Fourth Street/MS/9410/4B 207, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA. E-mail: hemachandra.reddy@ttuhsc.edu.

Abstract: In October 2018, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) held its first annual Healthy Aging and Dementia Research Symposium. The symposium was conceived and organized by the TTUHSC Garrison Institute on Aging. Its overall objective was to bring together scientists, healthcare professionals, interns, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty members, and NIH officials in order to share research results on aging and dementia associated with Alzheimer’s disease and to discuss possible lines of research that may be productive in reducing dementia associated with Alzheimer’s disease and, ultimately, associated with other neurological diseases. Another objective of the symposium was to share information, through formal and informal presentations, on whether and how unmodifiable factors, such as aging, and modifiable lifestyle factors, such diet and physical activity, impact dementia specifically and other chronic and neurological diseases, including diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Discussions of the relationship across aging, dementia, and chronic and neurological diseases, and of the impact of lifestyles on these diseases mainly focused on populations living in the rural areas of West Texas counties since these areas are known to have populations of extremely different lifestyles. This introduction gives background on research of dementia associated with Alzheimer’s disease, on populations and lifestyles of persons in rural West Texas, and on lifestyle factors known to affect progression of dementia and neurological diseases.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, chronic diseases, dementia, diabetes, lifestyle, neurological diseases, non-communicable disease, risk factors

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-191280

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 72, no. s1, pp. S1-S10, 2019