Node leader: Kristoffer Haugarvoll
Kristoffer Haugarvoll, MD, PhD is principal investigator (PI) in the Bergen Dementia Research Group, Associate Professor at the University of Bergen and a consultant neurologist at the Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital. Dr. Haugarvoll’s clinical expertise includes neurodegeneration, movement disorders, dementia, and neurogenetics. His main research focus is dementia and neurodegeneration in particular dementia related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and the Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) spectrum.
Key node partner: Ragnhild Eide Skogseth
Ragnhild Eide Skogseth, MD PhD, is an associate professor at the University of Bergen and a consultant geriatrician and principal investigator (PI) for dementia studies at Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital. Dr Skogseth’s clinical expertise includes neurodegeneration, dementia and biomarkers. Her main research focus is dementia and neurodegeneration in particular dementia related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and novel biomarkers to better diagnose these diseases.
Key node partner: Bettina S. Husebø
Bettina Husebø, MD, PhD is a professor and the head of the Centre for Elderly and Nursing Home Medicine (SEFAS), which in 2024 expanded from 12 to 22 staff members, still counting as the centre is expanding its activities. She is a specialist in anaesthesiology, intensive care, palliative care, and nursing home medicine. Her clinical research has been focused on method development and randomized controlled intervention trials, including nursing home patients and home-dwelling people with dementia, highlighting the assessment and treatment of pain, neuropsychiatric and behavioural disturbances, medication reviews, and end-of-life care. Her recent work involves a transdisciplinary approach on technology, smart living, and artificial intelligence in healthy older adults and people with complex conditions, such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease. In 2023, Dr. Husebø received an ERC Consolidator Grant and established the Centre for Complex Conditions and Ageing (CC.AGE), with support from the Trond Mohn Research Foundation and the UiB. She is also leader of the Neuro-SysMed Care Node.
Node activities
Motivated by the promising finding of NAD-replenishment therapy in PD, the Dementia Node has initiated clinical treatment studies to assess the neuroprotective potential of NAD-supplementation in Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, they conduct state-of-the-art biomarker research aiming at identifying subtypes of individuals with dementia, including AD and DLB, and to develop clinically applicable biomarkers for stratifying the dementias according to underlying molecular patterns.
During 2024, the Dementia Node made key advances in their clinical research projects, which include one clinical trial and one prospective cohort study:
- The N-DOSE AD study is a phase II randomised, double blinded dose-optimisation trial of NR in AD. The primary objective is to determine the optimal biological dose of NR for AD, so that larger trials focusing on efficacy can be designed. By the end of 2024, 70 out of 80 planned trial participants have been randomized in the trial.
- The STRAT-COG initiative is a longitudinal population-based cohort study aiming at stratifying individuals with dementia, such as AD and DLB, according to underlying molecular patterns, and to develop biomarkers enabling patient stratification in clinical practice. The study is employing a comprehensive biomarker panel for dementia combining existing biomarkers for AD pathology with biomarkers for neuronal loss and α-synuclein pathology.
The Dementia Node is also partner in the ANeED study, a phase II trial testing ambroxol in DLB (PI: Arvid Rongve), and in the ongoing Dementia Disease Initiation (DDI) study (PI: Tormod Fladby).
Selected publications from 2024:
- Stige KE, Kverneng SU, Sharma S, Skeie GO, Sheard E, Søgnen M, Geijerstam SA, Vetås T, Wahlvåg AG, Berven H, Buch S, Reese D, Babiker D, Mahdi Y, Wade T, Miranda GP, Ganguly J, Tamilselvam YK, Chai JR, Bansal S, Aur D, Soltani S, Adams S, Dölle C, Dick F, Berntsen EM, Grüner R, Brekke N, Riemer F, Goa PE, Haugarvoll K, Haacke EM, Jog M, Tzoulis C. The STRAT-PARK cohort: A personalized initiative to stratify Parkinson's disease. Prog Neurobiol. 2024 May;236:102603. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2024.102603.
- Titlestad I, Haugarvoll K, Solvang SH, Norekvål TM, Skogseth RE, Andreassen OA, Årsland D, Neerland BE, Nordrehaug JE, Tell GS, Giil LM. Delirium is frequently underdiagnosed among older hospitalised patients despite available information in hospital medical records. Age Ageing. 2024 Feb 1;53(2):afae006. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afae006.
- Titlestad I, Watne LO, Caplan GA, McCann A, Ueland PM, Neerland BE, Myrstad M, Halaas NB, Pollmann CT, Henjum K, Ranhoff AH, Solberg LB, Figved W, Cunningham C, Giil LM. Impaired glucose utilization in the brain of patients with delirium following hip fracture. Brain. 2024 Jan 4;147(1):215-223. doi: 10.1093/brain/awad296.