Volunteers being sought for world-leading ‘Brain WOF’

A world-leading ‘warrant of fitness’ for the brain to identify long-term health risks, has been developed by the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

Led by Professor Patria Hume and Professor Alice Theadom, the research is the second multi-year collaboration between AUT and global healthcare company Abbott.

AUT researcher Doctor Mackenzie Kiernan says the Brain-WOF aims to shift the mindset around brain health.

“You regularly check your car to make sure it's running well - and we think that your brain deserves the same proactive care.

“Brain health shouldn't start with a diagnosis. We want to move from reacting to problems to identifying risks early when there is still an opportunity to do something about it.”

With that in mind (pun intended) AUT is calling for participants to help with the next phase of the study.

The research team is looking to examine at least 250 New Zealanders aged between 25 and 70 who have had some kind of exposure to head injuries at any point in their lifetime. 

Doctor Kiernan said this could be through sport, military service or violence.

“It’s important to note that it doesn't have to have resulted in a diagnosed concussion. It might have been a time where you were knocked out, dazed and confused or you just saw stars.All those experiences are just as important for us as we look to understand long-term brain health.”

The Brain-WOF involves participants completing some online questionnaires before heading into AUT Millennium where the team will look at different risk factors across brain health, physical health and lifestyle.

“We're going to be doing cognitive testing, physical assessments, blood tests to look at kind of disease biomarkers and body composition scans,” explains Doctor Kiernan.

“By combining these measures with other data, it gives us a really complete, holistic picture of someone's brain health so they get objective information to help them take action while there's still a lot that they can do.”

Participants can find out more and sign up via Women’s health and neuroscience research programme - SPRINZ - AUT or email brain@aut.ac.nz