The Effects of Body Mass Index on Hippocampal Volume in Women with Down Syndrome
Conference Year
January 2021
Abstract
Abstract
Individuals with Down Syndrome (DS) show significant development and aggressive progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at a significantly earlier age than neurotypical individuals. The risk of AD is also particularly high in perimenopausal women with DS; it is even higher than the risk of AD in neurotypical perimenopausal women, which in turn, is higher than the risk of AD in neurotypical males. The DS population, as a whole, has a lower hippocampal volume and a higher prevalence of obesity when compared to the neurotypical population. This study will examine the relationship between BMI on hippocampal volumes in women with DS. MRI imaging, demographic data, and physical assessment data from women with DS aged 25-75 was obtained via access to the Alzheimer’s Biomarker Consortium -Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) study database and will be examined in order to evaluate the relationship between BMI and hippocampal volume. FreeSurfer will be used to analyze hippocampal volume from MRI images and BMI will be calculated for each subject. With the earlier onset and higher risk of AD in female DS subjects and their higher prevalence of obesity, the study of this unique cohort may be helpful in furthering AD research in populations most vulnerable to the disease progression.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Julie Dumas
Secondary Mentor Name
Alicia Ebert
Faculty/Staff Collaborators
Julie Dumas (Thesis Advisor), Alicia Ebert (CAS Advisor)
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Arts and Sciences
Program/Major
Neuroscience
Primary Research Category
Biological Sciences
The Effects of Body Mass Index on Hippocampal Volume in Women with Down Syndrome
Abstract
Individuals with Down Syndrome (DS) show significant development and aggressive progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at a significantly earlier age than neurotypical individuals. The risk of AD is also particularly high in perimenopausal women with DS; it is even higher than the risk of AD in neurotypical perimenopausal women, which in turn, is higher than the risk of AD in neurotypical males. The DS population, as a whole, has a lower hippocampal volume and a higher prevalence of obesity when compared to the neurotypical population. This study will examine the relationship between BMI on hippocampal volumes in women with DS. MRI imaging, demographic data, and physical assessment data from women with DS aged 25-75 was obtained via access to the Alzheimer’s Biomarker Consortium -Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) study database and will be examined in order to evaluate the relationship between BMI and hippocampal volume. FreeSurfer will be used to analyze hippocampal volume from MRI images and BMI will be calculated for each subject. With the earlier onset and higher risk of AD in female DS subjects and their higher prevalence of obesity, the study of this unique cohort may be helpful in furthering AD research in populations most vulnerable to the disease progression.