Rhode Islanders can sign up for trials of new drug or lifestyle changes .
BY KRIS CAMBRA
Gone But Not Forgotten
A new initiative will study the lasting effects of COVID-19 infection .
BY CORRIE PIKUL
Long COVID , a new condition that can affect people ’ s ability to work and carry on with regular life , affects millions of people around the world but remains poorly understood .
To meet the challenges brought on by this emerging syndrome , the Brown School of Public Health is launching a long COVID initiative that will bring together experts to rapidly study and communicate the impact of long COVID .
“ Every third COVID-19 patient still experiences at least one symptom weeks or months after becoming infected . For some people , long COVID is so disruptive they can no longer work or manage family responsibilities ,” says Ashish K . Jha , MD , MPH , dean of the School of Public Health .
Led by Jha and emergency medicine physician Megan Ranney , MD , MPH , the long COVID initiative will partner with The Warren Alpert Medical School , its affiliated hospitals , and the Rhode Island Department of Health . It is complemented by a separate initiative at Hasbro Children ’ s Hospital studying the condition in children .
“ The lasting effects of this disease can be life altering ,” Ranney says . “ By investing in closing knowledge gaps , adapting clinical approaches and workplace policies , and improving attention to equity , we can improve our collective ability to more effectively manage the long-term effects of the pandemic .”
The fear of developing Alzheimer ’ s disease is so great among seniors that in medical literature it has its own acronym : FDAD . That ’ s one reason Stephen Salloway , MD , director of the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital , is excited about two new Alzheimer ’ s prevention trials underway at Brown .
“ Like with other major diseases in medicine , the goal is to detect and intervene early to try to prevent problems down the road ,” Salloway says .
The first , AHEAD , is testing whether a new drug can reduce the amount of a protein called amyloid that builds up in the brain , which is associated with memory loss . The drug breaks up the amyloid plaques and helps remove them . People who enroll in the study first undergo a positron emission tomography ( PET ) scan of their brain .
AHEAD enrolls people as young as 55 . “ We keep pushing the focus earlier and earlier , which is great . We want to catch people at the earliest possible stage of the disease ,” Salloway says .
The other trial , US POINTER , tests a lifestyle intervention . It ’ s based on a Finnish study that showed a Mediterranean-type diet , vigorous exercise , monitoring heart health , and cognitive stimulation have a protective effect on cognitive function .
Participants are randomized into either a self-guided or a structured group during the two-year study . Both receive the same information , but participants in the self-guided group will choose how to implement it , while the structured group receives a more hands-on approach .
“ Brown is one of only five sites in the US enrolling people in the study , and we ’ re very pleased to be included ,” Salloway says . For more information about enrolling in either study , visit butler . org / memory .
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