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Maintain Your Brain: Protocol of a 3-Year Randomized Controlled Trial of a Personalized Multi-Modal Digital Health Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Decline Among Community Dwelling 55 to 77 Year Olds
Heffernan M, Andrews G, Fiatarone Singh MA, Valenzuela M, Anstey KJ, Maeder AJ, McNeil J, Jorm L et al.. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2019-01-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Background Maintain Your Brain (MYB) is a randomized controlled trial of an online multi-modal lifestyle intervention targeting modifiable dementia risk factors with its primary aim being to reduce cognitive decline in an older age cohort. Methods MYB aims to recruit 8,500 non-demented community dwelling 55 to 77 year olds from the Sax Institute's 45 and Up Study in New South Wales, Australia. Participants will be screened for risk factors related to four modules that comprise the MYB intervention: physical activity, nutrition, mental health, and cognitive training. Targeting risk factors will enable interventions to be personalized so that participants receive the most appropriate modules. MYB will run for three years and up to four modules will be delivered sequentially each quarter during year one. Upon completing a module, participants will continue to receive less frequent booster activities for their eligible modules (except for the mental health module) until the end of the trial. Discussion MYB will be the largest internet-based trial to attempt to prevent cognitive decline and potentially dementia. If successful, MYB will provide a model for not just effective intervention among older adults, but an intervention that is scalable for broad use.
Key findings
- Targeting risk factors will enable interventions to be personalized so that participants receive the most appropriate modules.
- MYB will run for three years and up to four modules will be delivered sequentially each quarter during year one.
- Upon completing a module, participants will continue to receive less frequent booster activities for their eligible modules (except for the mental health module) until the end of the trial.
- Discussion MYB will be the largest internet-based trial to attempt to prevent cognitive decline and potentially dementia.
- If successful, MYB will provide a model for not just effective intervention among older adults, but an intervention that is scalable for broad use.
Why it matters
This is the protocol of an ongoing three-year randomized controlled trial testing an online multi-modal lifestyle intervention to prevent cognitive decline in older adults. Whether it works is not yet known, as results are not reported.
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Study details
- Study designrandomized controlled trial
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 65/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomised controlled trial. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported and studied in people because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Journal of Alzheimer s Disease: journal h-index 218 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2019 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 80 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 8.9 citations a year over 9 year(s) since 2019 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 4.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 3 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 27 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Henry Brodaty: h-index 127 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | The University of Queensland: institution h-index 1,516 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 3 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 17 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 30475762) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 65 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.3233/jad-180572
- PubMed: 30475762
- Original source →
- Free full text: Journal of Alzheimer s Disease →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Heffernan, M., Andrews, G., Fiatarone Singh, M. A., Valenzuela, M., Anstey, K. J., Maeder, A. J., et al. (2019). Maintain Your Brain: Protocol of a 3-Year Randomized Controlled Trial of a Personalized Multi-Modal Digital Health Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Decline Among Community Dwelling 55 to 77 Year Olds. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-180572
Vancouver
Heffernan M, Andrews G, Fiatarone Singh MA, Valenzuela M, Anstey KJ, Maeder AJ, et al. Maintain Your Brain: Protocol of a 3-Year Randomized Controlled Trial of a Personalized Multi-Modal Digital Health Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Decline Among Community Dwelling 55 to 77 Year Olds. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. 2019. doi:10.3233/jad-180572. PMID: 30475762.
BibTeX
@article{heffernan2019-30475762,
author = {Heffernan, M. and Andrews, G. and Fiatarone Singh, M. A. and Valenzuela, M. and Anstey, K. J. and Maeder, A. J. and McNeil, J. and Jorm, L. and others},
title = {{Maintain Your Brain: Protocol of a 3-Year Randomized Controlled Trial of a Personalized Multi-Modal Digital Health Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Decline Among Community Dwelling 55 to 77 Year Olds}},
journal = {Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.3233/jad-180572},
pmid = {30475762},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-180572}
}
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