Veteran (FemBER-Vet) study: Identifying endocrinological, lifestyle and psychosocial determinants of female brain health outcomes for future intervention success
This work addresses the poorly understood biopsychosocial outcomes that female Veterans suffer compared to their male counterparts and the general population.
Aim
This feasibility study will create an innovative highly-phenotyped readiness cohort of female Veterans to assess the impacts of, and risks associated with, military Service on brain health.
Method
Prior female Veteran studies have primarily focused on psychosocial health – only one component of brain health. Unlike these cohorts, this project will delineate the precise biological, socio-demographic, health, lifestyle, military and lifetime determinants of brain health outcomes (psychosocial, cognitive, physiological biomarkers) using innovative and non-invasive cognitive, physiological and biomarker capture techniques.
Research questions
This project hypothesises that female Veterans will have poorer brain health outcomes than age-matched females from the general population and male Veterans and seeks to understand the precise biological and psychosocial determinants of poorer outcomes in this population.
Sample / Participants
Total: 90 (30 female Veterans; 30 male Veterans; 30 female civilians)