NEAR: New Opportunities for Aging Research

Chair(s)

• DR

  Debora Rizzuto, PhD (she/her/hers)

  Associate Professor
  Aging Research Center
  Karolinska Institutet
  Solna, Stockholms Lan, Sweden

Co-Chair(s)

• SH

  Scott Hofer, PhD

  Professor
  University of Victoria
  Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

• 

  Thais Lopes Deliveira, PhD

  Postdoc
  Karolinska Institutet
  Stockholm, Sodermanlands Lan, Sweden
• 

  Ingmar Skoog, MD, PhD

  Professor
  Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry
  University of Gothenburg
  Mölndal, Vastra Gotaland, Sweden
• JS

  Johan Sanmartin Berglund, MD, PhD

  Professor in Health Science
  Department of Health
  Blekinge Institute of Technology
  Karlskrona, Blekinge Lan, Sweden

The global increase in life expectancy is one of the greatest achievements of the last half century. However, the demographic developments towards an older population also challenge many parts of the society, especially the health care. Promoting healthy ageing is therefore one of the most important commitments of the 21st century and to succeed, scientifically based knowledge of older individuals’ health- and care requirements are needed. To better understand the individual and population aging process, the National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) was founded in 2018 to build and run a national infrastructure by integrating existing databases from the 15 major longitudinal studies on aging and health in Sweden. To show the added value of NEAR, this symposium will present results from four ongoing NEAR projects: 1) Developing a metric of global brain integrity in multiple Swedish studies with different scanners; 2) Functional aging trajectories and drug interactions; 3) Long-term prediction of dementia using machine learning algorithms; 4) The new aging – how different aspect of ageing has changed over half a century. The creation of national infrastructures is needed to achieve broad, multidisciplinary research perspectives that cannot be achieved by individual databases. Moreover, to address the increased health demands of an older population and enhance new opportunities for aging research, a critical mass of data is needed to increase sample sizes, variations, representativeness, and generalizability. Ultimately, this can lead to the identification of sustainable intervention strategies for better health and care for older persons during the coming decades.

Presentations:

• 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET

  Functional Aging Trajectories and Drug Interactions
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Thais Lopes Deliveira, PhD – Karolinska Institutet
• 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET

  The New Aging: How Different Aspects of Aging Have Changed Over Half a Century. The H70 Studies Within NEAR
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Ingmar Skoog, MD, PhD – University of Gothenburg
• 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET

  Long-Term Prediction of Dementia Using Machine Learning Algorithms
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Johan Sanmartin Berglund, MD, PhD – Blekinge Institute of Technology