Key result
New open-source MICROSIM framework simulates blood pressure management effects on late-life cognition and dementia.
Why the study?
The effects of different population-level blood pressure control strategies across the life course on AD/ADRD are unknown, and large-scale randomized trials may be infeasible.
Do different blood pressure management strategies over the life course improve late-life cognition and prevent all-cause dementia?
Do different blood pressure management strategies over the life course improve late-life cognition and prevent all-cause dementia?
MICROSIM is a novel, open-source microsimulation framework developed to evaluate the long-term effects of blood pressure management on cognitive decline and dementia.
Enables simulation of lifelong BP strategies on dementia risk; extends open-source microsimulation tools for cognitive outcomes research.
Strategies to prevent or delay Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD) are urgently needed. Blood pressure (BP) management is a promising strategy for AD/ADRD prevention and the key element in the primary and secondary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), yet the effects of different population level BP control strategies across the life course on AD/ADRD are not known. Large-scale randomized controlled trials are the least biased approach to identifying the effect of BP control on AD/ADRD, yet trials may be infeasible due to the need for prolonged follow-up and very large sample sizes. Thus, simulation analyses leveraging the best available observational data may be the best and most practical approach to answering these questions. In this manuscript, we describe the design principles, implementation details, and population-level validation of a novel population health microsimulation framework, the MIchigan ChROnic Disease SIMulation (MICROSIM), for The Effect of Lower Blood Pressure over the Life Course on Late-life Cognition in Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites (BP COG) study of the effect of BP levels over the life course on cognitive decline and dementia. MICROSIM was designed by applying computer programming best practices to create a novel simulation model. The initial purpose of this extensible, open-source framework is to explore a series of questions related to the impact of different blood pressure management strategies on late-life cognition and all-cause dementia, as well as the effects on race differences in all-cause dementia incidence. Ultimately, though, the framework is designed to be extensible such that a variety of different clinical conditions could be added to the framework.
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Burke et al. (2022) studied Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Michigan Chronic Disease Simulation Model (MICROSIM) was evaluated. The Michigan Chronic Disease Simulation Model (MICROSIM) was developed as an open-source population health microsimulation framework to evaluate blood pressure management strategies on late-life cognition and dementia.
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