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Mental Health Research Seminar: Shedding new light on dementia: The emerging relationship with vitamin D

Speakers: Dr David Llewellyn and Dr Elzbieta Kuzma


Event details

Dr David Llewellyn and his team have discovered a strong cross-sectional relationship between low vitamin D concentrations and cognitive impairment in older adults from the Health Survey for England (HSE). They subsequently conducted the first prospective study that established that low vitamin D concentrations increased the risk of substantial cognitive decline in Italian elders from the InCHIANTI study.

The team  then confirmed that this translated into a substantially increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and all-cause dementia in US elders from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). Our latest analyses address the prospective associations between vitamin D status and memory and neuroimaging abnormalities.

This programme of work identifies a new risk factor for dementia and informs future trials attempting to prevent the onset of dementia.

For further information please contact: Wendy Cowell