Assessing the Sensitivity of Brain-Age to Alzheimer's Disease in different Ethnic Groups

COEX 

Alzheimer's Disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease and cause of dementia [1,2]. The global burden of dementia is growing, with the number of people living with dementia projected to increase to 152 million by 2050. This growth is estimated to rise particularly in low and middle-income countries [2]. Although there have been advances regarding predicting dementia onset and progression, it is important that the performance of these research outputs are verified in different populations. Additionally, there is a lack of literature examining the potential impact of ethnic and racial factors [3, 4]. Brain-age is an index of the brain's biological age derived from structural imaging. It correlates with an increased risk of dementia in memory clinic patients and has the potential to aid in early dementia diagnosis [5]. However, a significant portion of the brain-age literature uses less diverse cohorts [5, 2]. Thus, this research aims to investigate the sensitivity and generalizability of brain-age in non-white individuals.