Island Study Linking Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease (ISLAND) targeting dementia risk reduction: protocol for a prospective web-based cohort study

Background: Up to 40% of incident dementia is considered attributable to behavioral and lifestyle factors. Given the current lack of medical treatments and the projected increase in dementia prevalence, a focus on prevention through risk reduction is needed.

Objective: We aim to increase dementia risk knowledge and promote changes in dementia risk behaviors at individual and population levels.

Methods: The Island Study Linking Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease (ISLAND) is a long-term prospective, web-based cohort study with nested interventions that will be conducted over a 10-year period. Target participants (n=10,000) reside in Tasmania and are aged 50 years or over. Survey data on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to modifiable dementia risk factors will be collected annually. After each survey wave, participants will be provided with a personalized dementia risk profile containing guidelines for reducing risk across 9 behavioral and lifestyle domains and with opportunities to engage in educational and behavioral interventions targeting risk reduction. Survey data will be modeled longitudinally with intervention engagement indices, cognitive function indices, and blood-based biomarkers, to measure change in risk over time.

Results: In the initial 12 months (October 2019 to October 2020), 6410 participants have provided baseline data. The study is ongoing.

Conclusions: Recruitment targets are feasible and efforts are ongoing to achieve a representative sample. Findings will inform future public health dementia risk reduction initiatives by showing whether, when, and how dementia risk can be lowered through educational and behavioral interventions, delivered in an uncontrolled real-world context.