# The role of 24-hour activity in Alzheimer's Disease

> **NIH NIH K01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $120,177

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY. Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) has become a major public health
crisis. To date, therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s disease have been largely ineffective resulting in an
increased focus on identifying effective prevention strategies. Daily 24-hour activity behaviors (sleep, physical
activity, and sedentary time) may be modifiable risk factors for ADRD. A better understanding of these risk
factors may provide an opportunity for early prevention, particularly in the asymptomatic phase prior to the
development of ADRD-related pathology. The availability of longitudinal actigraphy data to objectively-measure
24-hour activity in a strongly ADRD-phenotyped cohort has created the ideal opportunity to investigate
potential pathways linking 24-hour activity behaviors with ADRD. The objective of this K01 is to longitudinally
investigate changes in 24-hour activity with changes in cognition, structural neuroimaging, and fluid biomarkers
of Alzheimer’s disease and concomitant pathological pathways prior to the onset of clinical dementia. I will
leverage data from the Vanderbilt Memory and Aging Project (VMAP) cohort with repeated measures of
actigraphy, brain MRI, and fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology and concomitant injury. The
central hypothesis of this proposal is changes in 24-hour activity will be associated with cognitive decline,
structural neuroimaging changes, and Alzheimer’s disease and concomitant pathway changes, preceding
symptom onset. Based on this hypothesis, the proposal aims to 1) characterize associations between changes
in 24-hour activity and cognitive decline, 2) examine changes in 24-hour activity in relation to MRI markers of
neurodegeneration and small vessel disease, and 3) evaluate changes in 24-hour activity behaviors with fluid
biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology and concomitant pathways. Taken together, these aims will
combine objective measurement of 24-hour activity with cognitive, neuroimaging, and state of the art fluid
biomarker data to fill existing gaps in the research. Simultaneously, throughout the award, the candidate will
gain advanced training in 1) Alzheimer’s disease pathophysiology and epidemiology; 2) measurement and
modeling of structural imaging and fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer’s neuropathology and concomitant pathways
of injury; and 3) advanced statistical methods, positioning the candidate to become a leader in the fields of
aging and Alzheimer’s disease epidemiology. Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Vanderbilt Memory
and Alzheimer’s Center provide the ideal environment to complete the proposed research and training
activities. The overall goal of this K01 is to inform a series of R01 awards and independent research program
focused on identifying and characterizing behavioral risk factors for ADRD. With the support of this K01 award
and expert mentorship, the candidate will achieve this goal and successfully transition to in...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10888407
- **Project number:** 5K01AG083223-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Kelsie Marie Full
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $120,177
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-15 → 2028-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10888407

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10888407, The role of 24-hour activity in Alzheimer's Disease (5K01AG083223-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10888407. Licensed CC0.

---

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