Compared to the general population, United States military Veterans are at increased risk for dementia, possibly due in part to increased exposure to traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Further research is needed to better understand how these service-related risk factors interact with other Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk factors to accelerate dementia risk. Such research is necessary to identify strategies for AD prevention in Veterans. The proposed ?Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) Recruitment and Engagement of Veterans into Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias Studies Program? will work with stakeholders across the Madison Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital, the VA Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), related VA community-based programs, and the Wisconsin ADRC Cores to improve engagement, recruitment, and retention of Veterans into clinical studies identifying dementia risk factors and potential AD prevention strategies relevant to Veterans. The program will build upon the community engagement models used by the Wisconsin ADRC to increase recruitment and retention of individuals from African American and Native American communities into the ADRC Clinical Core and related studies. In addition, the proposed program will draw upon the experiences of Madison VA investigators and input from the Veteran Engagement Group to ensure that strategies and resources reflect Veteran interests. Successful principles and processes developed through this program will be shared across the National Institute on Aging ADRC Program and related studies.
Compared to the general population, United States military Veterans are at increased risk for dementia, possibly due in part to increased exposure to traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. The ?Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) Recruitment and Engagement of Veterans into Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias Studies Program? will work with stakeholders across the Madison Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital, related VA community-based programs, and the Wisconsin ADRC to improve engagement, recruitment, and retention of Veterans into clinical studies identifying dementia risk factors and potential AD prevention strategies.
