The first title card from Boya's presentation to the Whitehall II group. It says "PM2.5 Exposure And Incident Dementia: Life Course Analysis From Midlife To Late Life Using The Whitehall II Study", Zhang Boya, PhD Student, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Supervisor: Dr. Yuntao Chen.

Many thanks to Boya Zhang for her presentation ‘PM2.5 Exposure And Incident Dementia: Life Course Analysis From Midlife To Late Life Using The Whitehall II Study’ at the April Whitehall II group meeting yesterday!

A photograph of Prof. Gautam Mehta.

Thank you to Prof. Gautam Mehta for his presentation “The Whitehall II Liver Study: How It Started vs How It’s Going” at our February monthly meeting!

Association between plant-based diets and incident dementia: results from prospective cohort studies and a meta-analysis - PubMed The healthful plant-based diet was associated with lower risk of dementia, whereas the unhealthful plant-based diet was linked to higher risk. These findings support recommendations to adopt diets rich in healthy plant foods for dementia prevention.

New research using Whitehall II data 🪴

"Association between plant-based diets and incident dementia: results from prospective cohort studies and a meta-analysis"

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41564649/

👏Thank you to Cunrong Huang for her excellent presentation at our group meeting this month. "Changes in adiposity indices over 10 years and risk of type 2 diabetes: The Whitehall II cohort study".

Poorer heart health in middle age linked to increased dementia risk People with signs of damage to their heart during middle age are more likely to develop dementia in later life, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.

People with signs of damage to their heart during middle age are more likely to develop dementia in later life, according to a new study led by @uclpsychiatry.bsky.social researchers.

📖"Given the lack of widely accessible dementia treatments, identifying individuals at high risk of dementia is vital for prevention. No prior study has compared multiple validated dementia risk tools for predicting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) across multiple datasets..."

✨New publication!
Assessment of dementia risk scores in predicting mild cognitive impairment: A comparison of CogDrisk, CAIDE, LIBRA, and ANU-ADRI. Huque MH, Anstey KJ. J Prev Alzheimers Dis. 2025 Aug 11:100324. doi: 10.1016/j.tjpad.2025.100324. PMID: 40796458.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40796458/

We were delighted to welcome Jens Soeterboek from Maastricht University to today’s Whitehall II group meeting. Despite the backdrop of heavy rain, thunder, and a limited transport network in London, Jens delivered a fascinating presentation on “Exploring Environmental Factors and Brain Health.”

🦻Association of midlife hearing impairment and hearing aid use with incident dementia: analysis of two UK-based longitudinal cohort studies 📊

Read more ⬇️
www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Did you know the variables in the Whitehall II datasets are available to search on the CLOSER Discovery platform? CLOSER Discovery is one of the tools produced by @closer-uk.bsky.social . Have a look at our section on CLOSER Discovery (and check out the other studies)!

tinyurl.com/WH2CLSR

Thank you to Monica Iyer from @lshtm.bsky.social for her excellent presentation on "Mental Health Symptoms as Preclinical Signs of Dementia" at the Whitehall II Study meeting this month. It was a delight to host you!

The Global Neurodegeneration Proteomics Consortium: biomarker and drug target discovery for common neurodegenerative diseases and aging - Nature Medicine The largest harmonized proteomic dataset of plasma, serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples across major neurodegenerative diseases reveals both disease-specific and transdiagnostic proteomic signatures...

New multicohort resource for researchers exploring proteomics in neurodegenerative diseases — including data from the Whitehall II study. 🧠🔬

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

❓"Which adiposity index is best? Comparison of five indicators and their ability to identify type 2 diabetes risk in a population study"

💓Recent work using Whitehall II data by Prof. Annie Britton and colleagues, published in Diabetes Res. and Clin. Practice

📖 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40404050/

Associations of aortic and carotid artery health with cerebrovascular markers and cognition in older adults from the Whitehall II imaging study - BMC Medicine Background Cardiovascular disease has been associated with an increased dementia risk, but the underlying mechanisms for this heart-brain link are unclear. This study sought to examine associations be...

🚨New Whitehall II Imaging Study paper published in BMC Medicine. Findings suggest that maintaining the structural integrity of major arteries may benefit brain health & cognition in later life. @mikakivimaki.bsky.social @sanasuri.bsky.social
📖 Article: bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

It was a pleasure to celebrate Whitehall II's 40th anniversary this month at UCL with Professor Sir Michael Marmot who set up the study in 1985. Watch the recording of the event here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=__gL...

Whitehall II Study 40th Celebration 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the Whitehall II Study, also known as the Stress and Health Study. To mark the occasion, we will be hosting a morning of talks on the 16th May 2025 at UCL in Blooms...

Whitehall II is 40! We're celebrating on 16th May from 9.45am. Hear from directors Prof Mika Kivimäki & Prof Archana Singh-Manoux, and Whitehall II founder Professor Sir Michael Marmot. Follow our livestream: www.youtube.com/live/HVBzusJ... @mikakivimaki.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social

#Ageing is not just about time - it is also shaped by social conditions. In our latest study published in @naturemedicine.bsky.social , we show that social disadvantage is linked to biological ageing @mikakivimaki.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social @whitehall2study.bsky.social

Biological organ ages predict disease risk decades in advance Our organs age at different rates, and a blood test determining how much they’ve each aged could predict the risk of conditions like lung cancer and heart disease decades later, finds a new study led ...

Our organs age at different rates, and a blood test determining how much they’ve aged could predict the risk of conditions like lung cancer and heart disease decades later, finds a new study led by Prof Mika Kivimaki @uclbrainscience.bsky.social @whitehall2study.bsky.social

Proteomic organ-specific ageing signatures and 20-year risk of age-related diseases: the Whitehall II observational cohort study Advanced proteomic organ ageing is associated with the long-term risk of age-related diseases. In most cases, faster ageing of a specific organ increases susceptibility to morbidity affecting multiple...

Our latest publication in the Lancet Digital Health shows that organs age at different rates. Proteomic data from 6235 Whitehall II Study participants revealed that accelerated ageing of specific organs are predictive for over 30 age-related diseases. Link to paper: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Protein organ clocks, as assessed in over 6,000 people (~4,000 plasma proteins, 8 organs) with 20-year follow-up are predictive for over 30 age-related diseases
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...