# ADRD after Injury in the Elderly Study: Alzheimer's Disease or Related Dementia after Injury in the Elderly Study

> **NIH NIH F32** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $75,930

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Exposure to surgery with general anesthesia has been associated with cognitive dysfunction in
older adults. This post-operative cognitive dysfunction has been studied across elective surgical
populations, and when persistent, represents an Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD).
 Our group recently published on the impact of surgery and anesthesia exposure on ADRD in a
prospective multicenter cohort study of >1,000 medical and surgical intensive care unit (ICU) patients
without pre-existing dementia. Controlling for pre- and in-hospital patient characteristics, we
demonstrated that neither surgery with anesthesia exposure, nor age, was independently associated
with ADRD at 12 months.
 This controversial lack of association between surgery and ADRD requires reproducibility in
other populations, and has never been studied in a large critically injured cohort. Injured patients vary
significantly on their age, illness severity, and need for surgery. Timing, frequency, and type of
surgery are also variable as many of these patients have multisystem injuries. There have been no
studies investigating surgery-specific or dose-dependent relationships of surgery with anesthesia on
the development of ADRD. Injured patients also may sustain traumatic brain injury, delirium, coma,
and sedation which all may influence future ADRD. Neuroinflammation is one proposed mechanism
of cognitive dysfunction after surgery, primarily in pediatric cohorts. The impact of neuroinflammation
is unclear in a critically ill injured elderly cohort. Some work in uninjured critically ill patients has
demonstrated association of ADRD and neuroinflammatory biomarkers such as high mobility group
box-1 (HMGB1) or S100B, but has not been studied in the injured adult.
 Impact: The ADRD after Injury in the Elderly Study will be the first to investigate the effects
of surgery and anesthesia exposure on ADRD and associated neuroinflammation in critically injured
patients controlling for age, co-morbidities, pre-injury education level, injury severity, type of
neurologic injury (i.e. traumatic brain injury, delirium), with a specific focus on the elderly. This study
will feature a 450-subject nested prospective cohort investigation within my Primary Mentors’ R01
cohort of 900 critically injured patients. This will provide me with a unique opportunity to lead my own
nested cohort investigation while leveraging the essential infrastructure of the Parent cohort and
pursuing advanced training via a Master in Public Health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10020156
- **Project number:** 5F32AG062045-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Mina F Nordness
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $75,930
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-08 → 2021-08-07

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10020156

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10020156, ADRD after Injury in the Elderly Study: Alzheimer's Disease or Related Dementia after Injury in the Elderly Study (5F32AG062045-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10020156. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*