Huali Wang

• MD
• Chair at Peking University

Background As the population in China rapidly ages, the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is increasing considerably. However, the causes of MCI vary. The continued lack of understanding of the various subtypes of MCI impedes the implementation of effective measures to reduce the risk of advancing to more severe cognitive diseases. Aim...

INTRODUCTION This study aimed to explore the association between plasma amyloid‐β oligomerization tendency (OAβ) and cognitive performance in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and determine its predictive value for outcomes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). METHODS Plasma from 727 subjects (286 AD, 260 MCI, and 181 controls) in a case registry was analyz...

Background The “Describe‐Investigate‐Create‐Evaluate” (DICE) approach has been considered as a guide for managing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). However, the implementation of DICE approach may be limited by few available resources. With the development of AI technology, the effectiveness of AI‐aided DICE algorithm for BP...

Background Individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have decreased cognitive function, which makes them prone to making inappropriate decisions in complex and uncertain situations. However, there is currently no study being undertaken to investigate the potential neural mechanisms for processing decision‐making feedback in MCI patients. The...

Background The Hong Kong Brief Cognitive Test (HKBC) has solved the problems of limited population, insufficient coverage of cognitive domains and copyright limitation of previously used cognitive function test tools, which has a preliminary research basis for promotion. To make HKBC more widely used, it is necessary to collect normative data from...

Background The decision‐making capacity of persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has not been fully explored. This study aimed to examine the decision‐making capacity in MCI using the outcome‐representation learning model. Method 52 persons with MCI and 49 healthy controls were recruited in the study. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was admini...

Background This study aimed to explore the association between amyloid‐β oligomerization tendency (OAβ) in plasma and cognitive performance in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and further determine whether plasma OAβ could predict the outcomes of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Method The plasma from 727 subjects in a case reg...

Background The present study aimed to establish a panel of plasma proteins that are associated with cognitive performance and amyloid‐β burden and establish their utility for distinguishing early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from healthy controls. Method Plasma from fifty patients with early AD (all amyloid‐positive) and forty‐nine healthy controls (H...

Background This study aimed to explore the heterogeneity of community doctors based on their knowledge of dementia and the potential factors associated with their dementia literacy. Methods A total of 1288 community doctors completed the Alzheimer disease knowledge scale (ADKS) in a cross-sectional study conducted between December 2021 and January...

Background: To address an existing gap in knowledge due to limited and inconclusive evidence, we aimed to investigate the association between sensory impairments and cognitive decline among older Chinese individuals. Methods: We retrieved data on 6862 adults aged ≥65 years that were collected through the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity St...

The present study aimed to explore the potential neural correlates during feedback evaluation during decision-making under risk and ambiguity in MCI. Nineteen individuals with MCI and twenty age-matched HCs were enrolled. Decision-making performance under risk and ambiguity was examined with the modified game of dice task (GDT) and an Iowa gambling...

Objectives: The prevalence of the co-occurrence of depressive and anxious symptoms (CO) and their influence on perceived overall health were not clear in community dwelling Chinese older adults. The aims of the study were to investigate the prevalence of CO and to explore its influence on self-rated health (SRH). Method: This study included 1230...

Objectives To examine sex differences in the cognitive trajectories of a nationally representative sample of older people living in China and to explore potential determinants of these trajectories. Methods The study included 2230 women and 2171 men who were cognitively healthy and aged over 60 at the first observation from the Chinese Longitudina...

Objective:Around 95% of Chinese with dementia in Australia and China reside at home and are cared for by family members. The World Health Organization (WHO) iSupport program has been translated into simplified and traditional Chinese and culturally adapted to the Chinese populations in Australia, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. The obj...

Objective:The study aimed to examine the effect of social prescribing on improving cognitive performance among community-dwelling older adults, and to explore the potential association between social support and the change of cognitive performance. Method:One hundred and eighteen older adults from Changtang community participated in the study and w...

Background World Health Organization (WHO) has developed iSupport for Dementia carers, an online program that aims to improve caregivers’ knowledge and skills, reduce emotional distress and improve the quality of life for both person with dementia and their caregivers. The program has been translated and culturally adapted in 33 countries and rando...

In China, the aging population and the increasing incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias have emerged as major medical concerns. Extensive research and new technologies on AD have provided possibilities for early intervention, including emerging biomarkers for detection and new drugs with disease-modifying therapy. This report in...

Background Dementia has become a major public health concern due to its heavy disease burden. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional stage between healthy aging and dementia. Early identification of MCI is an essential step in dementia prevention. Objective Based on machine learning (ML) methods, this study aimed to develop and validate...

Electroencephalography can assess connectivity between brain hemispheres, potentially influencing cognitive functions. Much of the existing electroencephalography research primarily focuses on undirected connectivity, leaving uncertainties about directed connectivity alterations between left–right brain hemispheres or frontal-posterior lobes in mil...

Objective The relationship between excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and cognitive performance of older adults remains unclear, especially when a healthy lifestyle is considered. The study aimed to explore the association between EDS in passive and active situations and general cognitive function among community-dwelling older adults. Methods Two...

Background Whether encoding or retrieval failure contributes to memory binding deficit in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) has not been elucidated. Also, the potential brain structural substrates of memory binding remained undiscovered. Objective To investigate the characteristics and brain atrophy pattern of encoding and retrieval perfor...

BACKGROUND Dementia has become a major public health concern due to its heavy disease burden. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional stage between healthy aging and dementia. Early identification of MCI is an essential step in dementia prevention. OBJECTIVE Based on machine learning (ML) methods, this study aimed to develop and validate...

Background Olfactory identification dysfunction (OID) might be an early sign of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However, odor hedonics, the ability to perceive odor pleasantness, is neglected. Also, the neural substrate of OID remains unclear. Objective To explore the characteristics of odor identification and hedonics in aMCI and exami...

Background Naturally occurring antibodies (NAbs) are germline-encoded immunoglobulins that can bind to and clear out self-neo-epitopes as well as apoptotic and necrotic cells. However, NAbs pathological relevance in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is not well-understood. Methods Twenty-eight candidate proteins encoded by AD-associated genes were selected...

Previous studies on the striatum demonstrated that it is involved in the regulation of cognitive function and psychiatric symptoms in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Multiple lines of evidence have shown that striatal subregions have their own functions. However, the results of the existing studies on striatal subr...

The increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has emerged as a major challenge worldwide. China as the most populous country in the globe is amid rapid aging of its population, highlighting the need for appropriate social and medical policies to meet the challenge. The current study aims to provide understanding of the current status of car...

Unlabelled: Around the world, populations are ageing at a faster pace than in the past and this demographic transition will have impacts on all aspects of societies. In May 2020, the UN General Assembly declared 2021–2030 the Decade of Healthy Ageing, highlighting the importance for policymakers across the world to focus policy on improving the li...

Objectives This study investigated attitudes towards dementia among Chinese immigrants aged 50 years and over living in Australia and compares these attitudes with those of individuals living in mainland China. It aimed to better understand what older Chinese adults think about dementia and to inform the development of tailored dementia-related ser...

Objective The present study aimed to systematically analyze the risk factors for RBD. Methods A systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies, cohort studies, and cross-sectional studies derived from the articles published in eight electronic databases before December 1, 2021. The primary outcome was the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confi...

Introduction In China, the increasing number of people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) poses a great challenge to families and the country. Economic and cultural differences cause a urban-rural gap in medical resources. This multicenter survey aimed to investigate the real-world practice of disease treatment among people with AD. Methods People with...

The reconceptualization of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as a clinical and biological construct has facilitated the development of biomarker-guided, pathway-based targeted therapies, many of which have reached late-stage development with the near-term potential to enter global clinical practice. These medical advances mark an unprecedented paradigm shif...

What is this summary about? This is a plain language summary of an article published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia. It looks at a type of test called a lumbar puncture (also known as spinal tap) used in people suspected of having Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia. This summary focuses on how to do a lumbar puncture safely. Why is this...

Background Late-life depression (LLD), characterized by cognitive deficits, is considered heterogeneous across individuals. Previous studies have identified subtypes with diverse symptom profiles, but their cognitive patterns are unknown. This study aimed to investigate the subtypes of LLD and the cognitive profile of each group. Methods In total,...

Psychotic phenomena are among the most severe and disruptive symptoms of dementias and appear in 30% to 50% of patients. They are associated with a worse evolution and great suffering to patients and caregivers. Their current treatments obtain limited results and are not free of adverse effects, which are sometimes serious. It is therefore crucial...

Aims To investigate the prevalence and correlates of risky drinking in Chinese elderly people aged 80 and over. Methods Data were obtained from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) conducted in 2018. A total of 10,141 respondents aged 80 years or older were included in this analysis. Risky drinking was defined as drinking > 2...

Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit abnormal rumination, including both adaptive and maladaptive forms. However, the neural substrates of rumination in depression remain poorly understood. We hypothesize that divergent spatiotemporal complexity of brain oscillations would be associated with the levels of rumination in MDD. We empl...

Background Abnormal electroencephalography (EEG) activity has been demonstrated in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and theta rhythm might be inversely related to memory. The apolipoprotein E (ApoE) epsilon 4 (ε4) allele, as a genetic vulnerability factor for pathologic and normal age-related cognitive decline, may influence different patterns of c...

Background It is crucial for older adults, especially those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), to make profitable decisions routinely. However, the results regarding decision-making (DM) remain inconsistent. Objective The present study assessed DM profiles under uncertainty conditions in individuals with MCI and their associations with multi-do...

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a growing global public health challenge. The development of new therapies is urgently needed, and a complex ecosystem of organizations has grown to facilitate AD drug discovery and development. Masterfully collating information on the drug development ecosystem, this book emphasizes the contributions of each aspect in t...

Background The increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has emerged as a major challenge worldwide. China as the most populous country in the globe is amid rapid aging of its population, highlighting the need for appropriate social and medical policies to meet the challenge. The current multicenter cross-sectional observational study aims...

With population growth and aging, the number of people with dementia and related disorders will grow substantially in the years ahead, bringing with it significant societal, health‐care, and economic challenges. Here, we analyze dementia policies of seven major countries in Asia/Pacific, Europe, and North America to identify opportunities for early...

Background Air pollution might accelerate cognitive ageing; it is unclear whether large-scale interventions, such as China's Clean Air Act (CCAA), can mitigate cognitive deterioration. We aimed to evaluate the effect of CCAA on changes in cognitive function in older adults. Methods In this population-based, quasi-experimental study, we did a diffe...

Background: Apathy has been suggested as a potential predictor of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) progression to dementia. Whether it might predict the transition from normal cognitive function to cognitive impairment has been less studied. The current study aimed to provide a comprehensive summary of the evidence on the association between apathy...

While age friendly city (AFC) initiatives aim to build supportive physical and social environments for older adults, dementia-friendly initiatives (DFI) see the critical need of persons living with dementia (PWD) to be included in society. Given the close relationship between advanced age and dementia risk, communities facing challenges of aging an...

Pharmacotherapy of dementia is a critical intervention for managing symptoms of and slowing progression of dementia. However, evidence on prescribing patterns of dementia medications and their associated factors in China is lacking. This study aimed to examine prescribing rates of anti-dementia and psychotropic drugs, and investigate factors associ...

To examine the association of baseline body mass index (BMI) and BMI change with cognitive impairment among older adults in China. The study included data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study, a national community-based prospective cohort study from 2002 to 2018. Baseline BMI and BMI change were available for 12,027 adults aged old...

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) research has seen a significant growth in international collaboration over the last three decades. However, researchers face a challenge in identifying large and diverse samples capable of powering longitudinal studies and clinical trials. The DLB research community has begun to focus efforts on supporting the develo...

Objectives The oldest‐old (aged ≥80 years) are the fastest growing population segment and age is related to cognitive impairment. We aimed to estimate the association between cognitive impairment and all‐cause mortality, in addition to the relationship with different cognitive subdomains among the oldest‐old in China. Methods We analyzed 25,285 pa...

Background: Social relationships consist of distinct dimensions. The literature on the effect of specific social relationship subdomains on cognitive function is limited. This large-scale, prospective cohort study examined the associations of social relationships with cognitive decline and further explored which subdomains of social relationships...

Purpose: Psychotropic medications are commonly used for treating mental disorders; however, there is currently no study on how commonly they are used in China. This study reported the trends in psychotropic medications prescriptions in urban China. Methods: A national population-based study was conducted using the China Health Insurance Research As...

Objectives Evidence about prescribing patterns of dementia medication in China is lacking. This study aimed to examine prescribing rates of antidementia and psychotropic drugs and factors associated with drug prescription for dementia in China. Design A multicenter observational study. Setting and Participants This study employed cross-sectional...

Background: Effective training programs for primary care providers (PCPs) to support dementia detection are needed, especially in developing countries. This study aimed to investigate the effect of an enhanced training on the competency and service of PCPs for dementia detection. Methods: We conducted a cluster randomized trial in Beijing, China. C...

Background and purpose: The rate of donepezil discontinuation and the underlying reasons for discontinuation in Asian patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are currently unknown. We aimed to determine the treatment discontinuation rates in AD patients who had newly been prescribed donepezil in routine clinical practice in Asia. Methods: This 1-...

The presence of iron is an important factor for normal brain functions, whereas excessive deposition of iron may impair normal cognitive function in the brain and lead to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). MRI has been widely applied to characterize brain structural and functional changes caused by AD. However, the effectiveness of using susceptibility-weig...

Age-related white matter lesion (WML) is considered a manifestation of sporadic cerebral small vessel disease and an important pathological substrate for dementia. Asia is notable for its large population with a looming dementia epidemic. Yet, the burden of WML and its associated risk factors across different Asian societies are unknown. Subjects f...

Air pollution may accelerate cognitive aging, it is unclear whether large-scale interventions by Clean Air Act can mitigate the cognitive deterioration. Here, we conducted a difference-in-differences analysis based on Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey during 2014 and 2018. Intervention group came from where the government set a strict t...

Recent advances in developing disease‐modifying therapies (DMT) for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the recognition that AD pathophysiology emerges decades before clinical symptoms, necessitate a paradigm shift of health‐care systems toward biomarker‐guided early detection, diagnosis, and therapeutic decision‐making. Appropriate incorporation of cere...

Background Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) has been proposed as an early manifestation of dementia. The Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (MBI-C) may help identify MBI in prodromal and preclinical dementia. Objective The study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of MBI-C in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and...

Background The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is rapidly in China, which puts a great deal of pressure on the patient’s family and society. The way of patient care deserves social attention. This study focused on the caregiving status and the relationship between caregivers’ burden and patient factors based on the Chinese pension system. M...

Objective To examine the association of baseline body mass index (BMI) and BMI change with cognitive impairment among older adults in China. Methods The study included data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study, a national community-based prospective cohort study from 2002-2018. Baseline BMI and BMI change measurements were availabl...

Objectives This study compared dementia knowledge between older Chinese adults in Melbourne, Australia, and Beijing, China, and explored factors associated with dementia knowledge between these two groups. Ultimately, this study aimed to inform the development of tailored dementia education programs for older Chinese adults. Design A cross-section...

Study objectives: Based on a cohort from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), we aimed to evaluate the relationship between sleep duration and the incidence of cognitive impairment among older Chinese adults. Methods: We conducted a prospective analysis based on 3692 participants from the CLHLS at baseline (in 2011), and as...

s OBJECTIVE To investigate mental health status and associated factors among caregivers of older adults during the COVID-19 epidemic in China. METHODS From March 1 to 31, 2020, 916 caregivers of older adults participated in an online cross-sectional survey on the prevalence of anxiety, depression and sleep problems. The 7-item Generalized Anxiety...

The topological organization of human brain networks can be mathematically characterized by the connectivity degree distribution of network nodes. However, there is no clear consensus on whether the topological structure of brain networks follows a power law or other probability distributions, and whether it is altered in Alzheimer's disease (AD)....

Objectives Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a well‐known neurodegenerative disease, of which the hallmark is the disposition of β‐amyloid (Aβ) in the form of plaque in the brain. Neprilysin (NEP) is the major enzyme to degrade Aβ and prevent accumulation of Aβ. The present study was undertaken to elucidate the correlation between the NEP gene polymorphi...

Background Age-related white matter lesion (WML) is considered a manifestation of sporadic cerebral small vessel disease and an important pathological substrate for dementia. Asia is notable for its large population with a looming dementia epidemic. Yet, the burden of WML and its associated risk factors across different Asian societies are unknown....

Background Improving dementia knowledge among older populations has the potential to reduce risk factors or enable early diagnosis and timely treatment. This study compared dementia knowledge between older Chinese adults in Melbourne, Australia, and Beijing, China, and explored similarities and differences in relation to dementia knowledge between...

Background Previous studies have shown that smell identification test might predict cognitive decline in older adults. However, whether the odor identification capacity correlates to the pathological change of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has not been fully investigated. The systematic review aimed to examine the association between odor identification...

Background The topological organization of human brain networks can be mathematically characterized by the connectivity degree distribution of network nodes. However, there is no clear consensus on whether the topological structure of brain networks follows a power law or other probability distributions, and whether it is disrupted in Alzheimer’s d...

Background Subtle alterations of functional brain networks associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are important for a quantitative characterization of neurodegeneration, however prior studies primarily focused on handcrafted, domain‐specific (ad‐hoc) graph features (). Here we developed a novel deep learning model that learns unsupervised brain n...

Background: The associations between olfactory identification (OI) ability and the Alzheimer's disease biomarkers were not clear. Objective: This meta-analysis aimed to examine the associations between OI and Aβ and tau burden. Methods: Electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar) were searched until June 2019 to identify stu...

Identifying heterogeneous cognitive impairment markers at an early stage is vital for Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. However, due to complex and uncertain brain connectivity features in the cognitive domains, it remains challenging to quantify functional brain connectomic changes during non-pharmacological interventions for amnestic mild cognitive...

Psychosis is common among individuals with neurocognitive disorders, is difficult to manage, and causes considerable burden and stress to patients and caregivers. Developing effective treatments is a substantial unmet medical need but research has been slowed by the need for updated consensus diagnostic criteria. To address this need, the Internati...

Psychogeriatrics in a World with COVID-19 - Mary Sano, Maria Lapid, Manabu Ikeda, Raimundo Mateos, Huali Wang, William E. Reichman

Objectives Our aim is to distinguish different trajectories of cognitive change in Chinese geriatric population and identify risk factors for cognitive decline in each subpopulation. Methods We obtained data from five waves (2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014) of the Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Survey, using the Chinese Mini‐Mental State Exami...

Nexus between cognitive reserve and modifiable risk factors of dementia - Volume 32 Issue 5 - Huali Wang

Background: Cognitive decline in advanced age is closely related to dementia. The trajectory of cognitive function in older Chinese is yet to be fully investigated. We aimed to investigate the trajectories of cognitive function in a nationally representative sample of older people living in China and to explore the potential determinants of these...

Coronavirus Epidemic and Geriatric Mental Healthcare in China: How a Coordinated Response by Professional Organizations Helped Older Adults During an Unprecedented Crisis - Huali Wang, Tao Li, Serge Gauthier, Enyan Yu, Yanqing Tang, Paola Barbarino, Xin Yu

Rationale and objectiveVortioxetine has been reported to exhibit a variety of neurobiological functions and neuroprotective effects. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of vortioxetine on cognitive performance in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Methods We administered vortioxetine (10 mg/kg, i.p., every da...

Background Making advantageous decisions is essential in everyday life. Our objective was to assess how patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) make decisions under conditions of ambiguity or risk. In addition, the study also aimed to examine the relationship between decision-making competence and memory and execu...

Objective Lifetime intellectual engagement may be associated with cognitive ability late in life. However, the current evidence on whether cognitive activities will improve and/or maintain cognitive function is heterogeneous. Drawing on knowledge of the brain's intrinsic small-world organization which combines regional specialization and efficient...

Background Psychotic symptoms are common in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related neurodegenerative disorders and are associated with more rapid disease progression and increased mortality. It is unclear to what degree existing criteria are utilized in clinical research and practice. Objective To establish research criteria for the diagnosis of psy...