Overlapping climate threats and dementia risk across the U.S.
Nationwide Associations between Multiple Co-Occurring Climate Threats and Neurodegeneration
This project looks at whether older adults—especially Medicare beneficiaries and people in long-running aging studies—have higher risk of Alzheimer's and related dementias after exposure to multiple extreme weather events that occur together.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Columbia University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11381570 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
This project will link maps of overlapping extreme weather events (heat, temperature swings, wildfires, storms, floods, droughts, and more) across the U.S. to nationwide Medicare records and a long-running New York aging study with detailed cognitive tests. The team will analyze patterns of co-occurring climate threats since 2000 and compare those patterns to dementia diagnoses and measures of cognitive decline. They will use both claims-based diagnoses and high-quality cognitive data from the Washington Heights/Inwood Columbia Aging Project to search for connections between compound weather exposures and neurodegeneration. Results aim to reveal places and times when older adults face higher climate-related dementia risks.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are older adults—particularly Medicare beneficiaries and people enrolled in cognitive aging cohorts—or anyone living in areas that experience frequent or overlapping extreme weather events.
Not a fit: Younger people without dementia, individuals not represented in Medicare or the WHICAP cohort, or those whose exposure cannot be linked geographically may not directly benefit from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the research could identify climate-related risk patterns that help guide public health actions, policy, and local protections to reduce dementia risk among older adults.
How similar studies have performed: Previous research has linked single exposures like heat or air pollution to worse cognitive outcomes, but examining multiple simultaneous climate threats together is a relatively new and less-tested approach.
Where this research is happening
New York, United States
- Columbia University Health Sciences — New York, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kioumourtzoglou, Marianthi-Anna — Columbia University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Kioumourtzoglou, Marianthi-Anna
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.