# The Effect of Vascular Risk Factors on Risk of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias after Stroke (STROKE COG)

> **NIH NIH RF1** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $3,105,469

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia (AD/ADRD) incidence is high in older adults
with stroke. There is a fundamental gap in understanding how vascular risk factors (VRFs) influence risk of
post-stroke AD/ADRD. Poor understanding of the biological factors driving post-stroke AD/ADRD risk is a critical barrier to the design of interventions aimed to protect the brain health of stroke survivors. The long-term
goal is to develop, test, and disseminate VRF interventions that reduce post-stroke AD/ADRD for diverse populations. The study objective is to quantify how VRFs influence post-stroke AD/ADRD risk to inform preventive interventions tailored to stroke survivors and inform clinical care and policies. Post-stroke AD/ADRD is an
excellent model of a serious, chronic illness of aging with high prevalence and costs. High blood pressure (BP),
diabetes, and high cholesterol are ideal biological VRFs because they are common and modifiable with a wide
range of effective therapies for management. Our central hypothesis is that post-stroke VRF levels contribute
to post-stroke AD/ADRD. The rationale for the proposed research is that knowing the impact of VRF levels
and stroke (sub)type on post-stroke AD/ADRD will improve our understanding of vascular biology and translate
into new and innovative approaches for prevention of post-stroke AD/ADRD. Guided by strong preliminary
data, this hypothesis will be tested through 3 specific aims: 1) Quantify the influence of post-stroke VRF levels
on post-stroke cognitive trajectories and AD/ADRD, and explore how sex and race affect these relationships;
2) Clarify the relationships between stroke subtype and post-stroke cognitive trajectories and AD/ADRD, and
explore how VRFs, sex, and race affect these relationships; and 3) Refine and expand an existing AD/ADRD-CVD computer simulation model by adding post-stroke AD/ADRD and results from Aims 1 and 2 to quantify
the subset of stroke events, sample size, and duration of trials that are adequately powered to find clinically
important and plausible effect sizes of VRF lowering on post-stroke AD/ADRD. The results of Aims 1 and 2
will be the identification of both VRF targets for interventions to reduce post-stroke AD/ADRD risk and the sub-groups of stroke survivors most likely to benefit from VRF lowering. The results of Aim 3 will be a new simulation model applicable to stroke survivors that can be used to inform clinical research trials, clinical care, and
policies. This research is innovative because it will ultimately yield a novel simulation model that could provide
new guidance that may change clinical practice and health policy for stroke survivors. The proposed study is
significant because it will generate new knowledge and methods to understand the impact of optimal VRF
treatment intensity on post-stroke AD/ADRD risk and improve the design of VRF lowering trials in stroke survivors. Ultimately, such knowledge has the p...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10030919
- **Project number:** 1RF1AG068410-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Deborah Allison Levine
- **Activity code:** RF1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $3,105,469
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10030919

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10030919, The Effect of Vascular Risk Factors on Risk of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias after Stroke (STROKE COG) (1RF1AG068410-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10030919. Licensed CC0.

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