The Brain Resilience Study protocol: Building a dataset of the biological and sociocultural factors affecting brain health in older adults.

The Brain Resilience Study will recruit 1000+ adults aged 50 years and older from the British Columbia Generations Project.

• The parent cohort, the British Columbia Generations Project, is a population-based cohort of nearly 30,000 participants.
• Phase 1 recruitment targets adults aged 50 years and older.
• Participants will be drawn from an existing population-based cohort, enabling linkage with pre-existing data.

All BRS participants will undergo a standardized core battery of assessments including dementia risk questionnaires, cognitive testing, sleep assessments, portable EEG, and genotyping.

• The core battery applies to all 1000+ participants.
• Portable EEG is included as a scalable neurophysiological measure.
• Genotyping is included to capture biological/genetic factors.
• Sleep assessments are included alongside cognitive testing and dementia risk questionnaires.

A neuroimaging sub-study will collect MRI and MEG data from 100 participants, with circadian rhythm biomarkers collected from 50 of those 100 participants.

• The neuroimaging sub-study represents a subset of the full 1000+ participant cohort.
• Modalities include both MRI and MEG.
• Circadian rhythm biomarkers are collected from 50 of the 100 neuroimaging sub-study participants.
• This nested sub-study design allows deeper biological characterization in a subset of participants.

The BRS dataset will link all collected measures with extensive pre-existing sociodemographic, lifestyle, occupational, and residential data from the parent cohort.

• The linkage leverages pre-existing data from the British Columbia Generations Project.
• Data categories include sociodemographic, lifestyle, occupational, and residential variables.
• This linkage is described as enabling examination of 'how reserve, maintenance, and resilience emerge from the intersection of biological processes and social context.'
• Previous large-scale studies are noted to have had 'limited attention to the social and structural determinants of health.'

The BRS is designed as an open resource intended to address the gap in dementia research regarding social and structural determinants of health in diverse aging populations.

• The study specifically addresses that prior large-scale studies 'have largely focused on biomarkers and genetics.'
• The dataset is described as capturing 'variables often overlooked in dementia research.'
• The resource is described as providing 'an unprecedented opportunity to study brain health in diverse aging populations.'
• The study framework incorporates concepts of reserve, maintenance, and resilience as theoretical constructs.

The BRS protocol is designed to lay the foundation for longitudinal follow-up and future computational modeling to support development of personalized and equitable interventions.

• Phase 1 is explicitly framed as a foundation for longitudinal follow-up.
• Future computational modeling is identified as a planned downstream application.
• Goals include supporting 'early, personalized, and equitable interventions to promote brain resilience across the lifespan.'
• The dataset is intended as an open resource to enable broad researcher access.