Aging and cognitive decline in the Portuguese population

The present research project focuses on aging and its normal or pathological course. The main objective is to improve holistic knowledge of the aging population in Portugal and related risk and protective factors. For this, studies will be conducted to estimate the incidence rate of cognitive decline in the Portuguese population (reassessment of a cohort, of cognitively healthy elderly residents in the community, with an average follow-up of 6 years), characterization of the population aging profiles (successful aging, normal aging, and MCI and dementia patients), investigation of the impact and predictive potential of several factors [at the level of healthy status (e.g. medical diagnostics, medication), biological (e.g. APOE genotyping, complete blood count, metabolic status), lifestyle habits (e.g. smoking, alcohol and substance abuse, physical exercise, eating habits), cognitive reserve (e.g. sociodemographic variables, history of occupational attainment, leisure activities throughout life, estimate of IQ), toxicity by metals (e.g. Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Fe and Al)] on the course of aging and development of neurodegenerative diseases, and the development of a clinical data collection questionnaire for the elderly suspected of cognitive impairment.