Concurrent with the ageing global population is a growing need of preventative action on age-related diseases. Weili Xu is studying how cardiovascular disease and diabetes influence the risk of developing cognitive failure and dementia. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year’s installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.
Text: Karin Tideström, for KI’s installation ceremony booklet 2024
What are you researching?
“Our research focuses on how different factors affect brain health and ageing. One area we’re interested in is how diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and genetic factors affect the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. We’re also studying the role of diet and other lifestyle factors in cognitive ageing and whether the use of medication can reduce the risk of dementia. Another branch of my research is about how impaired sensory functions like vision and hearing affect the brain.”
Why is this important?
Photo: Rickard Kilström
“As populations have been aging rapidly, both in Sweden and globally, age-related conditions are posing huge public health challenges to almost all societies. The goal of our research is to produce evidence showing that early, individualised intervention can prevent cognitive impairment and dementia and improve the care of older persons.”
What are your most important findings to date?
“Our previous studies have yielded significant findings. For example, we’ve found that oral antidiabetic medications, alone or in combination with insulin injections, are associated with a reduced risk of dementia in individuals with diabetes. We’ve also found that early glucose disorders, so-called prediabetes, are independently associated with dementia risk, irrespective of future diabetes development, and that blood glucose levels play a critical role in the development of mild cognitive impairment. Poor cardiovascular health is also related to faster brain ageing and can affect the time of dementia onset.”
About Weili Xu
Professor of Geriatric Epidemiology at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society
was born in 1964 in Tianjin, China. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in medicine and a Master’s in epidemiology from Tianjin Medical University. Weili Xu arrived in Sweden and joined Karolinska Institutet in 2005, earning her PhD in geriatric epidemiology in 2008. Since her postdoc studies, she has worked as an assistant professor, senior researcher and senior lecturer. Weili Xu was appointed Professor of Geriatric Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet on 1 December 2023.
