AIBL – An ongoing lifestyle study

As one of the largest studies of its kind in the world, AIBL has been uniting Alzheimer’s researchers across Australia for more than 16 years.

The study is an ongoing “observational” study that looks at people’s lifestyles, medical history, cognitive changes, biomarkers (for example, proteins in blood) and images of the brain. It aims to investigate the natural history of Alzheimer’s disease, from preclinical onset to the development of dementia.

AIBL launched in November 2006 and is the largest study of its kind in Australia. It has a large cohort of 3000+ participants with a minimum age of 50 years and has participants who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, as well as people who have no symptoms and may never develop dementia of any kind.

Participants have follow-up investigations every 18 months. The study has collected up to eight “time-points” of data, yielding a current database of 8592 person-contact years. All data is collected at two centres, with 40% of subjects from Perth and 60% from Melbourne, Victoria.

This large database of individuals has provided a foundation for creating clinical-pathological models that explain the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. In other words, by integrating observable symptoms, behaviours, and medical data with pathological changes such as abnormalities in tissues and organs, theoretical frameworks (models) are designed to help explain how Alzheimer’s disease progresses.

Essentially, the information makes it possible to provide a structured way to understand the relationship between clinical symptoms and the underlying biological changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Having this information and framework informs the development of medicines that are intended to delay onset, prevent, and treat Alzheimer’s disease. Through PET imaging tracer validation, AIBL researchers have played a key role in the recent development of PET scans for tau, a key pathology in Alzheimer’s disease brains.

Led by a multidisciplinary research team, the AIBL study is supported by a number of Australia’s leading research institutions, including The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Austin Health, Edith Cowan University, CSIRO and the CSIRO Science and Industry Endowment Fund. Alzheimer’s Research Australia contributes to the AIBL study by providing clinical and laboratory research facilities to the research team, imaging sponsorship, as well as research governance and support.

AIBL data has contributed to:

• The development of new diagnostic criteria that permit earlier and more accurate diagnosis
• The design of early intervention trials aimed at preventing the development of dementia from Alzheimer’s disease.
• AIBL infrastructure is now also supporting recruitment for academic and industry-funded therapy trials.
• The ongoing refinement and validation of blood biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease which will look at genetic and epigenetic contributions, profiles for onset and progression, and lifestyle influences on cognition.
• The publication of more than 340 publications and 2500 citations per year. The increasing value, impact and productivity of AIBL is apparent, as is the increasing value of accumulating longitudinal data.

AIBL is helping researchers unlock new insights into the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. This work has contributed to the design of early intervention trials aimed at preventing the development of dementia and has validated brain imaging as a diagnostic tool for Alzheimer’s.

AIBL researchers have played a key role in the recent development of PET scans for tau, a key pathology in Alzheimer’s disease brains