The PROTECT Study
The PROTECT Study is an exciting opportunity to take part in a major UK research study. It aims to understand how healthy brains age and why people develop dementia. The PROTECT study is run by the University of Exeter and Kings College London, in partnership with the NHS.
“We know dementia risk can be reduced by one-third through improving lifestyle factors from midlife. This study will provide valuable information about how the brain changes with age, which combination of factors such as exercise and diet really work, and how we can best encourage people to adopt these changes.” Professor Clive Ballard, Executive Dean and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter Medical School
50000
Our target for how many people will take part
< 20 hours/year
The time it takes to contribute to dementia research
40+
How old you must be to participate in the study
Who can participate?
You can join the study if you:
Are aged 40 years or older
Reside in UK
Do not have a diagnosis of dementia
What is involved?
Once a year, you will be asked to complete a set of questionnaires about yourself, your lifestyle and your health. Each takes an hour or less to complete. You will also be asked to take a series of online tests, to measure changes in brain function.
Examples of Questionnaires, Cognitive Function Tests and Brain Training Games:
Cognitive Function Tasks
Assess core aspects of brain function relevant to everyday activities including attention, memory, reasoning and processing
Brain Training Games
Set of games designed to keep your brain active
Everyday Activities
Please rate yourself on how well you manage your ordinary housework.
Lifestyle
How often do you drink caffeinated drinks (tea, coffee, energy drinks)?
Medical History
Do you regularly experience pain that interferes with your day-to-day life?
Mental Health
People differ a lot in how much they worry about things. Did you ever have a time when you worried a lot more than most would in your situation?
Timeline
Brain training games can be played regularly throughout the year
Find out More
What is dementia?
Dementia is a devastating condition that affects the brain. It includes a wide set of symptoms including memory loss, mood changes and problems with communication. It is progressive and there is currently no cure. Research is ongoing to seek better treatments and ways of preventing dementia.
- There are currently 850,000 people with dementia in the UK.
- There will be over a million people by 2025 and over 2 million by 2051.
- 225,000 will develop dementia this year, that’s one every three minutes.
- Dementia currently costs the UK over £26 billion each year.
- The best ways to reduce the risk of dementia are to maintain a healthy weight, stop smoking, manage any cardiovascular conditions and take regular exercise.
What is cognitive testing?
The human brain is incredibly complex, performing countless tasks at any one time, allowing us to go about our daily lives. The word “cognitive” is used to describe the brain’s health as it functions. Our mental processes change as we age, and the PROTECT Study is trying to understand and track this process.
The PROTECT Study uses a set of cognitive assessments to record core brain functions including attention, memory, reasoning and processing. Participants are asked to complete tests once a year.
Key Cognitive Processes Assessed by the PROTECT Study
| Brain Function | What is it? | Example of how we test it |
|---|---|---|
| Short-term/Working Memory | Information is encoded, stored & retrieved | You remember where shapes are on a grid or a sequence of numbers |
| Perception | Sensory information like smells, sounds and tastes are recognised and interpreted | You recognise a round shape in a grid, interpret it as a football and then perceive it again later |
| Attention | Concentrating on particular information whilst ignoring other non-related information | You demonstrate awareness of a type of object shown in a box and where the box is on a grid but ignore the object’s colour |
| Problem Solving | Recognising a problem and finding the correct answer | You work out a rule and apply it to remember where an object appears on a grid |
| Language | Skill to translate sounds into words to communicate with other people | You distinguish between words and their location in a sentence to determine the meaning of the sentence |
Organisations that provide support
Support for dementia:
Support for mental health:
Support for the armed forces:
Additional dementia research
Our data promise
Your data will be confidential
All personal data will be physically separate from other data collection.
Your data will be securely encrypted
Only a very small number of individuals will have access to the decryption software
Your data will be kept private
Your data will only be used for the purposes of the PROTECT study. See our privacy policy for further information.
The people behind the project
Professor Clive Ballard
Professor of Age-Related Diseases
“PROTECT will drive forward research into dementia prevention and healthy ageing in the UK and across the globe.”
Professor Anne Corbett
Professor of Dementia Research & PROTECT Study Lead
“The internet presents a powerful opportunity for large scale global research that would not have previously been possible. PROTECT will rapidly progress research towards a better understanding of healthy aging and how dementia might be prevented in the future.”
Quote from a study participant:
“I'm pleased to say that I found the PROTECT Study very interesting, helpful to understand how memory degrades and affects normal daily life. I was particularly pleased to be able to contribute to this important research which affects millions of people as they age.”