Prospective Observational Study of the Relationship Between Sociodemographic Factors, Blood-based Biomarkers and Psychiatric Symptoms in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Mental Disorders

Sociodemographic studies in mental disorder (MD) and neurodegenerative diseases (ND). Sociodemographic factors increase the likelihood of developing an MD and contribute to poorer outcomes. There is less research on socioeconomic differences in ND, but also low socioeconomic status is also associated with dementia risk and early onset dementia. Substantial gaps remain in understanding the social and biological mechanisms underlying these disparities. Effective public health interventions to reduce the burden of these disorders are currently lacking.

Inclusion criteria

• Age>18 and donation of blood,
• full clinical and psychological assessment
• Available neuroimaging is optional as not all patients are suitable.
• Age and sex-matched unaffected volunteers without a MD or ND diagnosis are used as controls.
• Unaffected controls are usually spouses or children of patients that are informed about our studies at each clinical site.

Exclusion criteria

• Lack of neuropsychological data,
• anticoagulant treatment such as acenocoumarol, heparin, warfarin, dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban, drug abuse in the last year,
• medical history of cancer affecting the central nervous system that has not been in complete remission for 5 years or longer,
• the patient has received potentially neurotoxic chemotherapy and/or patient has received cranial radiotherapy.
• Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease where pathophysiological markers (measured in CSF or plasma) are inconsistent with Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology.
• Cognitively healthy volunteers where pathophysiological markers (measured in CSF or plasma) are consistent with Alzheimer's disease or other neurodegenerative pathophysiology.