Page 80 - MaquetaFundCIEN-2019-ENG

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Annual Report 2019
4.3.
The Vallecas Project
Following the completion and analysis of the pilot study the protocol was amend- ed based on the experience gained and a volunteer recruitment strategy was es- tablished (social awareness campaign in the media, visits to centers for seniors, contact pensioner’s organizations, etc.). In September 2011, after the “Global Sum- mit on Alzheimer Disease Research” held in Madrid and with the financial support of the Queen Sofia Foundation.
The Vallecas Project is being carried out in the Queen Sofia Foundation Alzheimer Center Research Unit by researchers from the CIEN Foundation (Carlos III Institute of Health). It aims to develop a probabilistic algorithm to identify individuals at risk for AD-type dementia over the course of a few years. Such an algorithm will be based on a combination of socio-demographic, historical, clinical, neurological and neuropsychological, biological (from blood tests) and neuroimaging (various forms of 3T MRI).
The participant recruitment phase for the Vallecas project lasted from October 2011 to December 2013. By then, 1,213 individuals of both genders, aged 70-85 years were recruited and evaluated at baseline. Once included in the study, the project conducts an annual follow-up for five years in order to assess the evolution profile of all participants, specifically identifying those that develop cognitive impairment and/or dementia. At the beginning of 2018, an agreement was signed between the CIEN Foundation and the Queen Sofia Foundation to extend the duration of the Vallecas Project beyond the five years of follow-up originally planned. This second phase covered by the new agreement will allow the cohort to be followed for an additional four-year period. At the end of 2019 we have completed the sixth visit for the whole cohort, being towards the end of the seventh and mid-way through the eighth.