Welcome to MELODEM!

For the best viewing experience, make sure that you access MELODEM via this website (it should have “sites” in the URL):   https://sites.bu.edu/melodem/

MELODEM (Methods in longitudinal dementia research) is an international initiative aiming at harmonizing analytic approaches across longitudinal studies in dementia risk or cognitive decline.

Several methodological challenges arise in studies of the determinants of dementia risk and cognitive decline. Some challenges, such as unmeasured confounding or missing data, are common in many research areas; others, such as outcome measurement error and lack of a “gold standard” outcome assessment, are more pervasive or more severe in dementia research.

Currently, different researchers handle these challenges differently, making it difficult to directly compare studies and combine evidence. Although some methodological differences across studies arise because analytic methods are explicitly tailored to the study design and realities of the data at hand, other differences arise for less substantive reasons. Modifiable sources of inconsistency include the absence of consensus and definitive standards for best analytic approaches; divergent disciplinary traditions in epidemiology, clinical research, biostatistics, neuropsychology, psychiatry, geriatrics and neurology; and software and technical barriers.

Working Group Meetings

At a recent MELODEM working group meeting we discussed the AAIC’s proposed revised diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease posted here.  Comments and feedback on the proposal are due by Nov 16, 2023, and generous volunteers in the MELODEM community have shared their draft comments in the spirit of helping others who may be trying to assemble their thoughts.  The draft comments are linked here.  If you would like to add to the MELODEM sponsored draft comments, please feel free to contact us.

MELODEM working group meetings typically occur the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of every month and subgroup meetings may take place on the Thursdays between working group meetings. Once a year, in June or July, we hold an annual meeting. Please see the calendar for information regarding upcoming working group meetings and other MELODEM events. To join the mailing list, please fill out this form. For any comments or questions, please contact us.

Our Supporters

MELODEM was launched in 2012, under the coordination of Carole Dufouil (INSERM, University of Bordeaux, France) and Maria Glymour (USCF, USA) with the support of the Foundation Plan Alzheimer. MELODEM has many other supporters, including INSERM, University of Bordeaux, and the Lister Hill Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. MELODEM is also supported by a grant from the NIH/NIA(R13AG064971). While we receive external support, MELODEM functions largely on donated time and effort, and we are thankful to everyone who contributes to MELODEM.