Melvin R. Goodes Prize is an annual award given by the ADDF to leading researchers making important strides towards the development of effective treatments and a cure for Alzheimer’s.

The Goodes Prize includes a USD 150,000 award and will support Professor Kivipelto’s continued research on prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

“On behalf of my team and me, I am incredibly honored to receive such prestigious recognition. This award is especially significant as Mel Goodes, a prominent leader in the pharmaceuticals industry, and his work has positively impacted numerous patients. Receiving this award is an inspiration as we continue with our research into the prevention of Alzheimer’s. The award is also a great recognition for the AD prevention work and the multidomain FINGER model targeting several risk factors and mechanism at the same time. I believe that given the complex and multifactorial etiology of dementia and late-onset AD, this multidomain approach is needed to get an optimal preventive effect.”

–Prof Kivipelto

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How have social distancing measures affected older individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic? Recent research led by Prof. Miia Kivipelto’s team provides some important insights – there were several negative effects but at the same time many lifestyles and behaviours did not substantially change during the first wave of the pandemic in Finland, and some even improved.  

The study evaluated a population of Finnish older persons who have increased risk of developing or have cognitive impairment (Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability – FINGER trial). A postal survey was sent in June 2020 to 859 FINGER participants. By September 2020, 613 (71%) participants responded. Mean age of the participants was 78 years, 32% lived alone, and 80% had at least one chronic condition. The majority (three quarters) adopted some distancing practices during the first months of the pandemic.

Several pandemic-related changes were reported in lifestyle and health, for example:

• 34% reported a decrease in physical activity.
• Many individuals had less contact with friends (55%) and family (31%).
• 21% reported more feelings of loneliness.
• 15% felt that their memory had been getting worse during the pandemic.
• Older people and those living alone were more susceptible to negative changes.
• Cancellations in dental healthcare (43%), home aid (30%), and rehabilitative services (53%) were common.

On the positive side:

• Many individuals were able to use digital tools to keep in contact with family and friends.
• A large proportion of people were able to keep up healthy eating habits (with many increasing their vegetable and fruit consumption) and in general their self-rated health and quality of life remained stable.

As the pandemic is ongoing, it is important to identify factors that may help older individuals to maintain healthy lifestyles during lockdowns and quarantine and to follow-up these individuals to see how they are coping with the 2^nd wave of the pandemic. Can we identify individuals who need more support during the pandemic, such as those living alone, to target them for interventions to support them? Research into changes in lifestyle risk factors as a result of the pandemic is important because these risk factors are relevant for brain health and for several chronic diseases and can also play a role in viral infections

-Miia Kivipelto, Principal Investigator of the FINGER trial and the Scientific Coordinator of EU-FINGERS

Given the global scale of the pandemic, the survey used for the FINGER participants has been further developed and adapted to be used in other countries, and has been proposed to the other members of the EU-FINGERS Consortium, as well as to the WW-FINGERS Network. This global initiative is the WW-FINGERS SARS-CoV-2 survey, which is linked to the WHO Global Forum on Neurology and COVID-19.

It will be interesting to compare the results with other countries doing the same survey, including members of the EU-FINGERS Consortium (Hungary, Sweden, The Netherlands), and more globally countries from the World-Wide FINGERS Network. We use a common methodology (i.e., WW-FINGERS SARS-CoV-2 survey) to learn how the pandemic is affecting the older adults in different cultural and economic settings.

-Francesca Mangialasche, Assistant Professor and Scientific Coordinator of the WW-FINGERS SARS-CoV-2 initiative

The article “Changes in Lifestyle, Behaviours, and Risk Factors for Cognitive Impairment in Older Persons During the First Wave of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Finland: Results From the FINGER Study” is published in Frontiers in Psychiatry. You can read the article here, alongside a collection of research articles on the theme of the “Cognitive, Psychological, and Psychiatric Consequences of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic in the Population of Older Persons with Cognitive Impairment, Dementia, and/or Neuropsychiatric Disorders”.

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Professor Kivipelto, Scientific Coordinator of EU-FINGERS, was awarded the prize by the Right Honourable Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, at a special ceremony in Auckland, New Zealand. Professor Kivipelto joined via video from her home in Sweden because of travel restriction related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ryman Prize is an annual, international award for the best work carried out anywhere in the world that has enhanced quality of life for older people. The prize was established to create the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for people working in the field of the health of older people.

Professor Kivipelto was inspired to take on the research by the experience of caring for her grandmother who lived with Alzheimer’s disease. She was delighted to win.

This is a great honour, not just for me, but for my team. I believe this will give us even more energy for what we do, which is more important than ever. We’ve kept going through COVID-19 and we’re getting great results, and we will keep going. The failure rate in Alzheimer’s disease drugs under development is 99.6% and there have been no new drugs approved since 2002. There is no miracle cure. Our research focuses on identifying who is at risk and finding ways they can reduce these risk factors. It isn’t just one solution – but there are a whole lot of things we can do to reduce the risk.

-Miia Kivipelto

The Ryman Prize attracts a world-class field of entrants each year. Each winner is chosen by an international jury of experts from across many disciplines. Professor Kivipelto was singled out for this year’s prize for her tireless dedication to her research, and her far-reaching impact around the world.

Our jury thought she was an outstanding candidate. Professor Kivipelto’s research is world leading, practical and influential. She leads a team of 100 researchers and clinical staff working on the challenge and her colleagues describe her as a very hard-working scientist who is absolutely dedicated to understanding disease and improving life for older people. She’s a great advocate for her field of research and there is no doubt she will use this recognition to her work. She’s an inspiration and this prize is a thank you for all the work she has done, and will no doubt continue to do.

-David King, Ryman Prize Director

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