Kenneth Rockwood

Contact via Dalhousie University

Principaux champs de recherche
Chercheur(e)s associé(e)s
Organisations associées

Projets de recherche récents

Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

2014/15-2020/21 • $55,155,670 • PI,CO
The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is a national study of adult development and aging that includes 50,000 individuals between the ages of 45 and 85 from across Canada to be followed over 20 years. The ultimate aim of the CLSA is to find ways to improve the health of Canadians by...

Phase Two of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging

2019/20-2020/21 • $12,909,697 • PI
The Canadian Consortium for Neurodegeneration and Aging (CCNA) is an important response to the urgent health problem of Alzheimer Disease (AD) and other more rare dementias-together termed the neurodegenerative diseases (NDD)- in Canada. Our mission is to create teams and platforms that will do...

Broad and Deep Analyses in Neurodegeneration (BRAIN)

2016/17-2020/21 • $4,849,085 • PI,CO
Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) in Canada has funded a Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA: www.ccna-ccnv.ca) to become the major vehicle to coordinate and strengthen Canadian research on dementia (including Alzheimer Disease and other neurodegenerative...

Frailty assessment for older adults at points of care: Validating the electronic comprehensive geriatric assessment / frailty index (eFI-CGA)

2018/19-2020/21 • $1,074,594 • PI,CO
Frailty is characterized by loss of biological reserves across multiple organ systems resulting in an increased risk of death and other adverse outcomes. Mounting evidence suggests frailty may be modifiable and can be prevented and sometimes even reversed. Frailty guidelines recommend the early...

Frailty rehabilitation: A community-based program to promote healthy aging

2018/19-2020/21 • $569,271 • PI,CO
Frailty is an important clinical state that contributes to falls, hospitalization, institutionalization and death. When an individual simultaneously has many health problems, a frailty "tipping point" may be triggered by even a minor stressful event such as adding a new drug or urinary tract...

New approaches to evaluating frailty in solid organ transplantation

2015/16-2020/21 • $462,102 • PI,CO
Solid organ transplantation is a life-saving treatment for people with organ failure, but organ donors and recipients must be chosen carefully since transplants are risky and donor organs are so scarce. In recent years, transplant programs have been accepting older donors and recipients with...

How does frailty influence the risk and expression of dementia in Alzheimer disease?

2018/19-2020/21 • $362,157 • PI,CO
Dementia is a clinical syndrome in which impaired memory and thinking interferes with a person's daily life. The most common cause of dementia is mixed Alzheimer disease (AD) / vascular dementia. AD can be diagnosed clinically when someone is alive and, after death, by brain autopsy. Even so,...

Frailty and the Kidney Transplant Wait List

2019/20-2020/21 • $128,520 • PI,CO
Many people with advanced kidney disease will benefit from a kidney transplant. Some people are not eligible because they are have health conditions that put them at a high risk of dying before receiving a transplant or high risk of deteriorating health after a transplant. Deciding who is able...

Development and Evaluation of a Family-Partnered Care Pathway for Critically Ill Older Patients

2016/17-2019/20 • $1,388,754 • PI,CO,Other
ABSTRACT: As society ages, increasing numbers of older patients are being admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU) for life-sustaining treatments. Historically, older critically ill patients have been systematically excluded from many clinical trials so there is very little evidence to inform what...

Frailty and Cardiac Rehabilitation: Do sedentary and physical activity behaviors improve outcomes?

2017/18-2019/20 • $76,667 • Scholarship/Fellowship,Other
Complications affecting the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular diseases) are the leading contributor to overall disease burden in older adults. This information is troubling, considering that the number of older adults in Canada is expected to double over the next two decades. However, not...

Impact of frailty biomarkers on the accumulation of age-related health deficits

2019/20 • $69,000 • PI,CO
As people grow old, they are more likely to develop health problems. However, not everyone ages in the same way. Some people will be healthier in their later years, while others will develop many health issues. One way to determine a person's overall health is to measure their frailty level....

Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging - Full Proposal

2014/15-2018/19 • $24,450,000 • PI,CO
The neurodegenerative brain diseases - Alzheimer's Disease, Vascular dementia, Frontotemporal dementia, and Dementia with Lewy Bodies - will be the "diseases of the 21st century" due to aging of our population. The decision by CIHR to establish a Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging...

The PREHAB Study - Pre-operative REhabilitation for reduction of Hospitalization After coronary Bypass and valvular surgery

2014/15-2018/19 • $619,784 • PI,CO
In the last 20 years, the increasing burden of heart disease within an aging population has resulted in cardiac surgery being offered to older and sicker patients. In addition, newer procedures such as catheter-based surgery are now being performed on patients in their 80 and 90s, many of whom...

How does frailty influence dementia expression in Alzheimer's disease?

2017/18-2018/19 • $105,000 • Scholarship/Fellowship,Other
By 2031, 1.4 million Canadians are projected to suffer from cognitive impairment, many due to Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Drug therapies have not yet been promising in the prevention of Alzheimer's Disease and the mechanisms of it's development remain unclear. Age remains the number one risk...

Refashioning the hospital gown: a collaborative design initiative

2018/19 • $25,000 • PI,CO
The design of the hospital gown has an impact on the psychological and physical well-being of patients, the efficiency and thoroughness of clinical exams, the risk for nosocomial infections, the economic and environmental cost of hospital linens, and the willingness of patients to refer a...

Early and preclinical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease using olfactory testing and Diffusion Tensor Imaging of olfactory bulb and substantia nigra.

2012/13-2017/18 • $659,736 • PI,CO
Clinical Parkinson's disease (PD) can only be diagnosed when most dopamine neurons are damaged or have already died. It is important that better ways be found to detect early PD. Years before PD motor symptoms are present, changes occur in olfaction and sleep. By themselves, these changes are...

Impact of frailty on cardiac function in health and disease in aging mice: a model for therapeutic interventions to treat frailty

2012/13-2017/18 • $569,250 • PI,CO
As anyone who has ever attended their high school reunion knows, people age at different rates. Because a person's actual age is not always the same as their biological age, some older adults are fit and others are frail. Frailty is a major health care problem, because frail people are often...

Expanding Exercise Opportunities for Persons with Dementia: A Participatory Approach

2017/18 • $40,000 • PI,CO,Other
Exercise improves physical, mental, and social wellness among persons with dementia. Unfortunately, persons with dementia face considerable barriers to exercise. Stigma against dementia may magnify the impact of these barriers. This project builds on our prior work to understand accommodations...

Epidemiology of cognitive dynamics in older adults

2010/11-2014/15 • $707,276 • PI,CO
As people age, on average, their brains work less efficiently, especially their memory. With dementia, it is even worse. People with Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia, usually experience relentless decline. Their decline is both faster and more widespread than what normally...

Mathematical modeling of fitness and frailty in relation to biological age in individuals and populations

2011/12-2014/15 • $392,803 • PI,CO
Chronological age is often used as a rough measure of the aging process. But individuals do not die from old age. They die because they become more vulnerable, and this occurs with age. We have developed a better measure of aging than chronological age - a measure that takes individual health...

Cardiac Surgery in The Frail and Elderly; Towards optimal decision making in a vulnerable population.

2011/12-2014/15 • $281,422 • PI,CO
Before providing treatment for a disease doctors must obtain an 'informed consent'. It is important to provide patients with detailed information about the risks, benefits and alternatives to the proposed treatment. While this is a requirement that has been around for a long time, recent studies...

"The dangers of lying in bed": How do sedentary behaviours impact the health of hospitalized patients and how can we reduce them?

2013/14-2014/15 • $140,000 • Scholarship/Fellowship,Other
Canadian older adults are sedentary for more than 70% of their waking hours. Behaviours such as lying in bed and sitting down to watch TV are now acknowledged as independent health risks even in people who are otherwise active. The risk from prolonged lying/sitting might be even more profound in...

Canadian Pipeline for Alzheimer's Disease Therapeutics (cPAD)

2014/15 • $50,000 • PI
Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related causes of dementia is becoming more common among older individuals in Canada and across the world. While progress is being made, no effective drugs for AD and other dementias is available for patients. In this grant proposal, we address the critical need for...

Modelling the heterogeneity of brain aging and dementia risk - integrating brain structural and functional changes

2012/13-2013/14 • $100,000 • PI,CO
Alzheimer's disease (AD) becomes more common as the brain ages, but not everyone is affected equally. Understanding why brain aging is slower in some people than in others, and why some people can even improve, would offer a major advance for successful risk factor control and dementia...

Sleep and circadian disruptions in early Alzheimer's Disease

2011/12-2013/14 • $90,000 • Scholarship/Fellowship,Other
Sleep and circadian disruptions are a common complaint in patients with early Alzheimer's disease (AD). A fragmented sleep/wake pattern, characterized by increased daytime activity and disrupted nighttime sleep, is frequently observed. Sundowning, or the presence of certain psychological...

H. Chertkow Expression of Interest for CCNA

2013/14 • $71,606 • PI
The neurodegenerative brain diseases (NDD)- Alzheimers Disease (AD) and other dementias in particular - will be the diseases of the 21st century due to aging of our population. The decision to establish a Canadian Consortium for Neurodegeneration and Aging (CCNA) represents a timely response to...

Coconut Oil Cures and Dentures Cause Dementia: why is the science of dementia so hard to understand?

2013/14 • $2,408 • PI,CO,Other
By 2030 about 750,000 Canadians are expected to have dementia. In Nova Scotia that number will be disproportionately higher (over 28,000 people or 2.5% of the population) reflecting its older than average age structure. It is no wonder that dementia is second only to cancer as a health concern...

Create the Canadian Dementia Knowledge Translation Network (CDKTN)

2010/11-2012/13 • $1,955,000 • PI
Aucun sommaire

A National Comparison of Intensity of End-of-Life Care in Canada: Defining Changing Patterns, Risk Factors and Targets for Intervention.

2011/12-2012/13 • $99,208 • PI,CO,Other
Examining the care received at the end of life is important. When studied, up to 70% of elderly patients, when provided with a choice, would prefer a less aggressive treatment plan than a technologically supported, institutionalized death. However during the last weeks to months of life, the...

PHAC/CIHR Influenza Research Network

2010/11-2011/12 • $7,897,246 • PI,CO
The PHAC/CIHR Influenza Research Network (PCIRN) will provide a pan-Canadian research network to undertake applied public health research in preparation for and during an influenza pandemic. PCIRN will address 5 objectives to test methodologies for the performance of rapid clinical trials, to...

Realities, Expectations and Attitudes to Life Support Technologies in Intensive Care for Octogenarians: The REALISTIC 80

2010/11-2011/12 • $497,339 • PI,CO
Every day in hospitals across Canada, frail elderly patients at or near the end of life are faced with decisions related to the use of life support machines. In a recent survey carried out at several large teaching hospitals across the country, seriously ill patients rated "not being prolonged...

A multi-centre, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial compaing different regimens of the antibiotics doxycycline and rifampin for treatment of Alzheimer's disease with an open-label extension - DARAD

2010/11-2011/12 • $134,060 • PI,CO
The DARAD trial (doxycycline and rifampin for Alzheimer's disease) is an innovative approach to the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) using antibiotics. This randomized, placebo-controlled trial has been enrolling patients since August 2006 and 260 have been recruited. More time is required...

Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) in Canada: A national prospective study of the epidemiology, quality of life and impact of co-morbidity/frailty on disease outcome

2011/12 • $100,000 • PI,CO
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) comprise a spectrum of bone marrow disorders primarily seen in the elderly. Patients with MDS often present with reduced blood counts resulting in fatigue, shortness of breath, a need for red blood cells transfusions and increased infections. Roughly 1/3 of...

Early and preclinical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease using olfactory testing and Diffusion Tensor Imaging of olfactory bulb and substantia nigra.

2011/12 • $100,000 • PI,CO
Clinical Parkinson's disease (PD) can only be diagnosed when most of the critical brain areas have degenerated. It is important that better ways be found to detect early PD. Years before tremors begin, changes occur in the sense of smell (olfaction), in brain structure and in sleep patterns. By...

Quantification of health status changes in China and Canada: an evaluation of a stochastic model of aging

2010/11 • $87,500 • PI,CO
How can we characterize the health of a whole population? One way is through the chance of dying, or the mortality rate. Death is a highly personal event, but the mortality rate is a public health measure, and applies to people 'on average'. Even so, what makes up 'average health status' is not...

Good Days and Bad Days in Dementia: Variability in Symptom Expression

2010/11 • $48,550 • PI,CO
People with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their carers often refer to "good days" when their condition seems better than usual and "bad days" when it seems worse. Sometimes they describe periods of clearer thinking or improved function that challenge how we understand the relentless progression...

Think Tank 2010: Building a Web Based System for KT in Dementia Care Education in Nova Scotia

2010/11 • $4,091 • PI,CO
The Geriatric Medicine Research Unit (GMRU) is a leading organization in research into dementia, frailty and aging, and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for elderly people and their caregivers. One of the GMRU's primary goals has been to bridge the gap between research findings and...

Brevets