Unique Alzheimer’s project in Danish dementia research

Eight Danish dementia departments and several research units have been granted several million Danish kroner to examine whether physical exercise has a beneficial impact on Alzheimer’s patients.

The cooperation is to form the basis for developing consistent methods in Danish dementia research, increased sharing of clinical data and establishment of a national biobank so as to enable the launch of new, large, joint research projects.

Quality of life and health
The Danish Council for Strategic Research has allocated DKK 13.3 million to the project entitled “Preserving quality of life, physical health and functional ability in Alzheimer’s disease: The effect of physical exercise” (ADEX).

The Danish Dementia Research Centre is managing and coordinating the ADEX project, which comprises eight Danish dementia departments, the Institute of Sports Medicine at Bispebjerg Hospital, as well as several Danish and international cooperation partners.

Exercise against Alzheimer's
About 200 patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s will be invited to participate in the training programme, which is expected to include physical exercise three times a week for one hour, with guidance from physiotherapists.

The trial is to show whether physical exercise can improve the memory and life quality of patients with Alzheimer’s.

The trial is also to document whether physical exercise can reduce the occurrence of the beta-amyloid protein in the brain, which is thought to play a significant role in the development of Alzheimer’s.

Largest study to date
The researchers will also perform brain scans and take blood in order to be able to measure a biological effect of physical activity.

This is the first time that the effect of physical exercise as treatment of Alzheimer’s has been examined in such a large group of patients.

New research methods and database
o the trial with physical exercise, ADEX also aims at developing consistent methods in Danish dementia research.

The aim is to standardise the use of clinical diagnosis criteria, guidelines and methods of measurement across departments.

The project is also to form the basis for developing and establishing a clinical research database and a joint biobank for the participating dementia departments and research units.

“In this way, we can gather a great deal of knowledge which we can use in large international research projects such as the EU’s Joint Programming research initiative”, says the manager of the Danish Dementia Research Centre, Prof. Gunhild Waldemar, Consultant, DMSc.

Read more about the ADEX-project (English project summary)

Read more about dementia departments and research units that are participating in the project - link to pdf.