Brain scan studies show all areas are active. Studies that have explored brain health awareness find that people are generally conscious of their brain health and are interested in learning more about it, although they are less aware of brain health than other health issues (8-12). Studies report a varying level of knowledge of lifestyle factors (such as sleep, diet, physical activity, substance use etc.) influencing brain health. The original objective of the survey was to reach as many people as possible in Europe and beyond, and the goal was to achieve a sample size of 10,000 (31). To reach this large number, a convenient sampling strategy was adopted and the survey was distributed using using newsletters, information on websites and social media of the participating brain health organizations and research networks in the Lifebrain project. The survey was anonymous and open to anyone above the age of 18 years consenting to participate.
Young respondents (40 and below) (OR 0.59, 99% CI 0.52-0.67) and respondents with employment and/or education within healthcare were less likely to test for risk of disease that is unpreventable and untreatable (OR 0.71, 99% CI 0.64-0.78) compared to older respondents (above 60) and those without healthcare experience. Age was reduced to three categories, “young adult” (40 and below), “middle-aged” (41 to 60 years) or “old adult” (above 60 years). The concept of brain health has emerged in recent years to describe the state of brain functioning. There are relatively few studies based on the broad concept of brain health; research is still mostly focused on one or few specific aspects of it (for e.g., dementia, cognition etc.). Few studies have explored public interest in undertaking testing to learn about their personal brain health, or what motivates such an interest. Given the substantial public interest in brain health and the growing availability of commercial medical testing, there is a need to explore whether people are interested in testing their brain health, and what motivates such an interest in testing (or not). In line with the numerous studies that have documented high public interest in medical testing (16), several studies have found relatively high public interest in testing for specific brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (13, 17-20). Public interest in the early detection of dementia seems to be connected with large expectations about the effectiveness of prevention.
Chiarello’s (1985) finding of bilateral priming to semantic associates has been replicated in several studies (Beeman et al., 1994, Burgess and Simpson, 1988, CogniForce Ingredients Faust and Mashal, 2007, Khateb et al., 2000, Koivisto, 1997, Mashal and Faust, 2008, Mashal and Faust, 2009, Yochim et al., 2005); however, her finding of a LH advantage has not. To simplify data interpretation, complex demographic variables were reduced to three or fewer data categories. Self-assessed mental and cognitive health were categorized as either “good” mental or cognitive health (encompassing response categories “average,” “above average” and “excellent”), CogniForce Review or “poor” mental or cognitive health (below average or very poor). The response category with the highest number of data points was used as the reference group. Due to the large sample size, almost all group differences were statistically significant but not necessarily of practical importance. Due to increased longevity, brain health related diseases are expected to increase in the coming decades, worldwide (5). Most brain diseases have a multifactorial origin, where genetic and environmental risk factors play an important role. These were: (1) respondents’ willingness to undertake such a test for their brain health to reveal risk of developing a brain disease, and (2) even if such diseases were unpreventable or not treatable, (3) reasons why they would take or (4) not take a brain health test, (5) their likely reactions to brain health test results and (6) the criteria they considered important, such as tests being affordable, quick, accurate, or painless.
The purpose of this paper is therefore to explore people’s interest in undertaking a hypothetical brain health test to learn about their risk of developing a brain disease. In this paper we investigate the responses to the part of the survey that addressed respondents’ interest in undertaking brain health tests, defined as a willingness to test for risk of developing brain disease. Most respondents (60%) would “definitely” take a simple brain health test to learn about risk of developing a brain disease, whereas 31% would “probably” take such a test. 1) Willingness to take a brain health test: “Imagine a simple brain health test to learn about risk of developing a brain disease. ” Respondents were asked to select the one or two most important out of the following: (a) To get information about my cognitive and mental health, (b) To determine my risk of developing a brain disease, (c) To respond if I am at risk, e.g., change my lifestyle, seek counseling, or start treatment, (d) To prepare myself for the future (e.g., inform my family about the risk), (e) Other motivation (please specify). Respondents were asked to select the one to three most important characteristics that such a brain health test should have: (a) Affordable, (b) Quick to take, (c) Accurate, (d) Painless, (e) Subsidized by social security (via the GP), CogniForce Ingredients (f) Offered online with direct access to the results, (g) Other (please specify).
