# Women's Alzheimer's Risk Reduction in Midlife

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE · 2024 · $208,594

## Abstract

Project Summary
Many health promotion programs fail to address barriers to successful adoption of healthy behavior. Barriers
include lack of knowledge about individual risk and lack of motivation to prevent a disease decades in the
future. We propose to increase awareness of individual disease risk through disclosure of individual risks for
Alzheimer’s disease and to provide a program to prepare for adoption of health behavior change. Because
women in the U.S. have twice the lifetime risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and compelling evidence suggests
female-specific cardiometabolic and hormonal changes emerge in midlife that contribute to these sex
disparities, the behavioral intervention program is designed specifically for women in midlife. We hypothesize
that: 1) disclosure of individual risk information will increase awareness and motivation for health behavior
change, particularly among those at higher risk, 2) completing our intervention will increase awareness,
motivation, and action that precede health behavior change. Aim 1 is to evaluate whether the intervention
increases precursors to health behavior change. Using the electronic health record to identify participants
at risk for Alzheimer’s and baseline testing to quantify risk, we will inform participants of their individual
Alzheimer’s risk. We will randomize participants to start immediately (or after 12 weeks) the Women’s AD Risk
Reduction in Midlife (WARM) program. WARM is a 12 week online education and health coaching program,
followed by monthly group support and health coaching. Building on 10+ years of Alzheimer’s prevention
programs, WARM will focus on risks specifically elevated in midlife women. We will conduct a randomized
controlled trial to assess increased awareness, motivation, and action—precursors to adopting health behavior
change. Aim 2 is to Evaluate feasibility and acceptability of the Women’s AD Risk Reduction in Midlife
(WARM). We will assess feasibility in terms of 1) completion of educational modules, 2) scores on knowledge
assessments. We will assess acceptability via questionnaires (quality of materials, preferred delivery format
and frequency, coaching support, preferred timeline, level of commitment, and cost). We will conduct semi-
structured interviews with a sub-set of participants. Aim 3 is to Evaluate the effect of WARM on changes in
AD risk factors. At baseline and after week 12 we will assess changes in body composition, blood pressure,
and blood tests (fats and sugars), and self-reported health behaviors (diet, physical activity, sleep). The project
is innovative in its focus on midlife as the critical time to intervene, and disclosure of individual risk
information. The focus on successful adoption of health behaviors and the online delivery will enhance
successful implementation in later stages. It is innovative in its use of bioinformatics tools to identify a diverse
set of participants at increased Alzheimer’s risk.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10770249
- **Project number:** 1P20GM152280-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE
- **Principal Investigator:** Amber Watts
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $208,594
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-04-15 → 2029-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10770249

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10770249, Women's Alzheimer's Risk Reduction in Midlife (1P20GM152280-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-05 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10770249. Licensed CC0.

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