What factors influence our health? What does it mean to be "healthy"? Are the conditions for healthy ageing set many years in advance? By answering these questions, the Rhineland Study aims to contribute to health care promotion and disease prevention.
Goals of the Rhineland Study
We want to help prevent diseases before they occur
HEALTH IN VIEW, BRAIN IN FOCUS
The Rhineland Study focuses on the development of the brain over the course of a lifetime. The brain has an important role in the physical and mental well-being of humans and changes throughout life.
The Rhineland Study therefore investigates which influencing factors determine changes in the body and brain over the lifespan of a person. The primary goal of the Rhineland Study is to develop strategies for the prevention of dementia and other age-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. To this end, risk factors and risk groups are to be identified that will benefit from targeted measures to delay or even prevent the outbreak of these diseases.
NERVE FIBRES IN THE BRAIN
However, age-related neurodegenerative diseases cannot simply be traced back to a few disease factors; rather, they are multifactorial. This means that several factors that can protect, damage and promote health interact here in different combinations. The ability to learn, the brain's ability to repair itself, the reaction to stress triggers, physical fitness or genetic predisposition, are all examples of factors which can influence whether and when someone will develop symptoms of a neurodegenerative disease. By better understanding the factors that determine brain function and changes in the brain, we can identify when, in which areas, and why brain function is impaired. This in turn can provide indications for effective interventions.
Study Goals
1
The examination of the (determinants of) normal and pathological (brain) structures and functions in the course of adult life.
2
The study of modifiable and non-modifiable causes and (pre-symptomatic) markers of neurodegenerative and other age-related diseases.
3
The identification of biomarkers / (multimodal) biomarker profiles to identify individuals at risk for neurodegenerative or other age-related diseases.