Page 52 - MaquetaFundCIEN-2019-ENG

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Annual Report 2019
Although scientific evidence has shown that non-pharmacological therapies have a protective effect against cognitive impairment, there are still some unresolved issues related to this topic. For example, determine what type of intervention is most beneficial or what clinical variables are associated with a better prognosis of the therapy. Taking advantage of the knowledge accu- mulated throughout the Vallecas Project, the objective of the Department of Neuropsychology is to study the impact that these non-pharmacological inter- ventions have on subjects at risk of developing mild cognitive impairment. Thus, the department is associated to a consortium made up of various research groups from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM, for its acronym in Spanish), the technical University of Madrid (UPM, for its acronym in Spanish) and the San Carlos Clinical University Hospital of Madrid through the joint re- search project “Study of the functional connectome modulations in young and elderly relatives of AD patients: assessment of the influence of an intervention and SCI” (RTI2018-098762-B-C31) funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the Research Challenges call 2018 of the R+D+i Na- tional Plan. Specifically, within this project the department of neuropsychology leads the subproject entitled “Elderly Relatives of Alzheimer Disease (ERAD): influence of the Subjective Cognitive Decline”.
Both PILEP ¡+90 and ERAD can be considered as two natural extensions of the Vallecas Project. This is so because, throughout the last waves of the Vallecas Project, a bias towards over-representation of older people with a higher phys- ical, cognitive and functional level has been observed in the cohort. Due to this bias, at present the cohort cannot be considered as representative of the rest of the target population. In fact, due to the appearance of this bias, the initial idea of the Vallecas Project to find early markers of cognitive deterioration could be changing in favor of the identification of protective factors that favor healthy cognitive aging.
PILEP+90 allows investigating the variables associated with longevity in a sam- ple of cognitively healthy people over 90 years of age. The data obtained in this research program will in turn complement the data collected in the Vallecas Project. For its part, ERAD can also be conceptualized as a continuation of the Vallecas Project to the extent that, once we are able to identify the subjects at risk of cognitive impairment, we will try to intervene on modifiable lifestyle patterns - diet, physical exercise and cognitive training - that help reduce the risk of developing eventual cognitive decline.