Page 75 - Annual Report 2018

4. THE VALLECAS PROJECT

• Signing an informed consent. • Neurological history: mental retardation,
• Be aged between 70 and 85 years old. head injuries, etc.
• Availability and ability to reach the Alzheimer • Consumption and/or toxic addiction:
Centre for visits. alcoholism/level of regular alcohol intake,
• Visual and hearing abilities that allow addiction/consumption of other psychotropic
conducting the study tests. substances.
• Psychiatric pathology: depression, dysthymia,
In addition, a number of exclusion criteria were es- bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, anxiety
tablished, including the following: i) suspected or syndromes.
diagnosed dementia; ii) inability to perform neuroi- • Other relevant systemic diseases: hepatic
maging studies; iii) alcohol abuse; iv) mental retar- failure, renal failure, Obstructive Sleep Apnea
dation; or v) history of certain psychiatric or Syndrome (OSA)...
neurological diseases (e.g. schizophrenia, stroke, • Family history with special attention to the
history of dementia or movement disorders,
severe head trauma, Central nervous system infec-
developmental delay or psychiatric disorders.
tions, uncorrected vitamin deficiencies, etc.).
• Regular drug treatment during the last 5
years.
In the table some global data from the cohort of ap-
• Since 2018, all volunteers who consent to
proximately 1,213 individuals evaluated to date are carry an accelerometer device (Actigraph®),
indicated. similar to a wrist watch, are being provided
with it for the recording of physical activity
4.3.2. Sociodemographic profile and sleep for a week
The following variables are collected through semi- 4.3.4. General examination
structured interview: gender, date of birth, marital
status, number of children, type and amount of in- All subjects undergo a general and neurological
come, primary occupation and education level, standard examination: cranial nerves, muscle ba-
hobbies and leisure activities, etc. lance, coordination, extrapyramidal system, gait, os-
teotendinous reflexes, midline release reflexes, etc.
In addition, each year volunteers also must com- The following parameters are analyzed in a special
plete a scale of quality of life and subjective well- way:
being (mobility, personal care, daily activities,
pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression, and perceived • Gait disturbance
• Handwriting
health status) as well as various questionnaires to ga- • Instrumental activities of daily living
ther information related to lifestyle.
4.3.5. Neuropsychological Examination
4.3.3. Clinical evaluation
The neuropsychological evaluation allows to explore
At each visit relevant information is collected from
in a holistic way the various cognitive domains (gno-
each volunteer by applying a semi-structured clini-
sias, attention, memory, language, praxis and exe-
cal interview:
cutive functions), as well as a series of variables
• Vascular risk factors: blood pressure, diabetes related to affectivity, behavior and level of auto-
mellitus, smoking, heart disease, stroke nomy in the daily life of an individual. To do this, the

CIEN Foundation Annual Report 2018 / 75