Adrienne Johnson, PhD, was awarded a 2021-2021 Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) Developmental Projects grant for “ADRD Prevention Messaging to Increase Smoking Cessation Attempts in Older Adults.”
Summary of Dr. Johnson’s project:
Smoking is a factor that can influence a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). For example, people who quit smoking have a lower risk of dementia onset. Nonetheless, older smokers are less likely than younger smokers to attempt to quit smoking and to receive evidence-based smoking treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy. As a result, Dr. Johnson’s research aims to develop a program to encourage older adults to quit smoking that consists of a message that promotes quitting smoking and gives clear guidance to receive evidence-based smoking treatments within a healthcare setting. This intervention, if successful, will increase the amount of older adults who quit smoking, which will result in indirectly slowing the cognitive decline of those individuals. Further, it can possibly prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Read the full article at: https://www.adrc.wisc.edu/news/wisconsin-adrc-announces-developmental-projects-awardees