Identifying Novel Aging Targets for Treatment of Delirium

The long-term goal of this research program is to improve understanding of the mechanistic link between Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology, acute delirium, and cognitive impairment following acute respiratory failure. In this pilot study, the study team will establish a prospective cohort of older patients with acute respiratory failure and obtain data on delirium duration, AD imaging and CSF biomarkers, and cognitive outcomes following critical illness.

The study team will recruit patients with no known history of dementia for enrollment into the cohort during their hospital stay for acute respiratory failure. The cohort will undergo testing including cognitive testing, MRI imaging, lumbar puncture for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis at 3 months following hospital discharge. The study will examine the association of delirium duration during the hospital stay and cognitive impairment at 3 month follow-up with CSF levels of amyloid- β42, tau, and phospho-tau. Measures of delirium will also be related with structural/functional MRI dependent measures. The goal is to design a larger prospective cohort study to evaluate the relationship between AD imaging and CSF biomarkers with delirium and post-ICU cognitive impairment. The results of this pilot study with provide important information with regard to future study design including: (1) ratio of eligible to recruited patients (2) retention rate; (3) safety and feasibility of protocol; and (4) preliminary effect size estimates.