In this ISLAND Newsletter

• Happy New Year - ISLAND update
• We want to hear from you at the Hobart Healthy Lifestyles Expo
• New staff introductions
• ISLAND Facebook page
• Get involved with your local library
• Sleep study research update

Happy New Year from the ISLAND Team!

Welcome to 2024 from the ISLAND Project. This is the project’s 5th year and we are so grateful to have all of you with us on our mission to reduce the incidence of dementia within Tasmania.

Thanks for your hard work in 2023. It was great to see so many of you at the face-to-face events and blood collections. This year is certainly a lighter year in terms of load. You have a break from cognitive tests and blood tests, these will resume in 2025. Instead, we only ask that you complete the October surveys (plus any sub-study requirements). Like in 2023, we will hold information sessions around the state, and we have some new and exciting initiatives to share as the year progresses.

If it has been a while since you have engaged with us, please know that it is never too late. This is a longitudinal study so if you completed your initial baseline surveys, we would love to see you back in 2024, no matter how many years you may have missed. If you are yet to complete the Preventing Dementia MOOC, this will be available in May, and we highly recommend you enrol. For those of you who are yet to complete your baseline data you can access the link to the log in dashboard here.

Again, thank you for being involved in such a worthwhile project. We look forward to working with you and seeing what this new year brings!

From all of us in the ISLAND Team.

We want to hear from you at the Healthy Lifestyles Expo

Hobart members, come and see us at the free Healthy Lifestyles Expo to discuss how we can better engage with you as an ISLAND member and ask any questions you have about our latest research. We would love to hear about whether you find seminars, webinars or networking events useful. We are also interested in talking to you about our ideas for the year and finding out what you want to see from the project. Would you like more information on research, more practical ways you can modify risk, or maybe you want to hear more personal stories, from both the ISLAND team and the ISLAND members? Swing by and let us know! 

The expo is on Saturday 17th February, held in Princes Wharf 1 on the Hobart waterfront.

Although we love meeting our members face to face, we understand many of you are not in Hobart so you can also email your feedback on the above topics and we hope to see you throughout the year.

New ISLAND staff members

Sonia Strong

Introducing Sonia Strong, who has recently joined the Island Sleep Study team within the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, assisting PhD Candidate, Samantha Bramich.

Primarily Sonia’s role will be to conduct formal sleep studies in participant’s homes across the state, including assessments of cognitive and motor function, video polysomnography and the collection of physiological data. Participants for the sleep study are pre-selected through a screening process which helps to identify potential abnormal REM sleep patterns. Whilst studies into isolated REM sleep behaviour disorder (iRBM) conducted elsewhere have identified the disorder as a potential precursor to the development of neurological degenerative disease, the prevalence of iRBM in the Tasmanian population is currently largely unknown.

Sonia has worked in Tasmania as a paramedic for fifteen years and has a background in biological and environmental science and national park management. She has a personal family interest in neurological disease development and enjoys the personal interactions with sleep study participants. She is a keen bushwalker and artist, also working out of the Salamanca Arts Centre as a jeweller. Sonia has written and illustrated a number of children’s books and articles for Forty South magazine. 

Florence Sward

Florence Sward has also recently joined the ISLAND Project. Florence is a Project Officer based in Hobart, with interests in Public Health and Health Promotion, as well as a more personal interest in dementia. Florence will be focusing on engagement and support for ISLAND participants so if you have any ideas regarding how we can do this better please reach out. We would love to hear your thoughts.

Florence has worked in the University's College of Health and Medicine for eight years, in both the Tasmanian School of Medicine and the College Office, and is studying a Master of Public Health. When not at work Florence enjoys being outdoors, preferably in the bush or at the beach, travel, and spending time with family, friends and her cat. 

ISLAND Facebook page

Do you follow us on Facebook? Our Facebook page is where we will provide up to date information on the project and publications. You will also find team profiles, snippets regarding what you can do to lower your dementia risk, and links through to useful resources and information. 

Why not get a cup of tea, and catch up on the latest ISLAND news from the comfort of your sofa!

Get involved with your local library!

• Start a book club. Libraries make it easy with packs of up to 10 of the same book so your group can all read at the same time. Find out more information here

• Sign up to Libby, the free Libraries Tasmania app, to access eBooks and audiobooks on your devices

• If you are unable to visit the library due to daily caring responsibilities or are unable to carry library books home, Libraries Tasmania offer a Home Library Service

• Your local library holds a variety of events and activities. To see what's on in your area click here

The ISLAND Sleep Study

The ISLAND Sleep Study is progressing well thanks to the 2,900+ ISLAND members who completed the online questionnaires about sleep, dreams, pain, body functioning and COVID infections in 2022. This has allowed us to identify people at risk of a rare condition called ‘isolated rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder’ or iRBD. This is where people ‘act out’ what they’re dreaming and iRBD is linked to the development of dementia and Parkinson’s disease in later life. We are screening these people at risk of iRBD over the phone to see who is eligible for the full overnight Home-based sleep study required to identify iRBD. Sam Bramich (PhD Student) and Sonia Strong (research assistant) will be performing the at-home sleep studies and more movement and memory tests during the visit. These studies will be in the North, North-West and South of the state over the next 2 years. Once we have completed these at-home studies, we will have an indicator of the prevalence of iRBD in Tasmania. Anybody identified as having iRBD will be notified and referred for further specialist follow-up. This will be the first investigation of the prevalence of iRBD in Tasmania, and even in Australia.

Based on the 2022 responses, we have also found that people at risk of iRBD experience poorer sleep quality, more pain symptoms, and more changes in their movement, including more shaky limbs and balance problems, compared to those not at risk. This suggests that people with iRBD may experience changes in their movement and thinking before the onset of dementia or Parkinson’s disease. This can help us understand both why iRBD may lead to these brain diseases and how lifestyle risk modification strategies (like those in the ISLAND project) reduce progression to these diseases.

We are concurrently investigating smell loss and 24-hour activity patterns in people with and without signs of iRBD. Some of you may have already completed a bunch of scratch’n’sniff cards where you scratch and smell 40 different scents, and/or wear an actigraphy watch for 2 weeks. We are still posting these out to people who consented last year, as we have a limited number of watches on rotation. We apologise for the delay if you are still waiting. You will receive an email with your ‘smell score’ once the scratch’n’sniff data has been processed.

Thank you so much for your massive support for this project!!

The University of Tasmania received funding from the Australian Government. Views and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of its authors, and may not be the same as those held by the Department of Health.

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