This World Alzheimer’s Month, we engage in a topic that is largely under-addressed – youth brain health. Public health recommendations encourage a life course approach to brain health and dementia prevention, however much of the public discourse, research and interventions around these topics center middle and late adulthood.
Young adulthood and the potential brain health risk factors are largely neglected in dementia research and policy making despite this demographic being highly exposed to several known modifiable risk factors. Globally, the potential risk and protective factors that have the biggest effect on dementia outcomes in young adulthood remain unclear.
Our guest today on the Dancing into Brain Health Podcast is neuroscientist and Assistant Professor in the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, Dr. Francesca Farina. In our discussion, she introduces a new initiative that is shining a light into the topic of youth brain health.
Learn more about Dr. Francesca Farina here: https://profiles.uchicago.edu/profiles/display/41427710
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/francesca-farina
https://www.linkedin.com/in/francescarfarina/
Learn more about Next Generation Brain Health and get in touch HERE: https://preventdementia.co.uk/next-gen/
Learn more about PERI-MIND and get in touch HERE: https://obgyn.uchicago.edu/research/peri-mind
Read or watch more:
Next generation brain health: transforming global research and public health to promote prevention of dementia and reduce its risk in young adult populations
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhl/article/PIIS2666-7568(24)00191-0/fulltext
Exploring brain health awareness and dementia risk in young adults: A focus group study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39864278/
Young Adult Brain Capital: A New Opportunity for DementiaPrevention
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37302036/
Shifting the Narrative, Bringing Light to Younger-Onset Dementia
https://www.gbhi.org/events/shifting-narrative-bringing-light-younger-onset-dementia
Global burden of young-onset dementia, from 1990 to 2021: an age-period-cohort analysis from the global burden of disease study 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-025-03275-w#Sec18
Reducing fear and avoidance of memory loss improves mood and social engagement in community-based older adults: a randomized trial
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10688470/
Why Science Needs Art: From Historical to Modern Day Perspectives
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.