At a dedicated session at the AAIC 2025 conference in July, the team behind the U.S. POINTER trial presented the topline results of the study. The results were simultaneously published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA.
U.S. POINTER (The US Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk) has assessed whether the FINGER model and results from the FINGER study are generalizable to a larger, more diverse population in the U.S.
The trial has 2,111 participants with increased risk of developing dementia based on certain criteria. As in the FINGER study, the participants were randomly divided into a structured and a self-guided lifestyle intervention. Both interventions encouraged increased physical and cognitive activity, a healthy diet, social activities, and cardiovascular health monitoring, but differed in structure, intensity, and accountability.
Findings clearly underscore the findings of the FINGER study and other subsequent FINGER-based trials, showing that a structured, higher-intensity lifestyle intervention can have a significantly greater benefit on global cognition compared to an unstructured, self-guided intervention.
U.S. POINTER is based on the FINGER study. The trial is part of the World-Wide FINGERS Network, which is coordinated by the FINGERS Brain Health Institute together with Alzheimer’s Association. Laura Baker is Principal Investigator for U.S. POINTER, together with Miia Kivipelto, who leads the FINGER study and continued FINGER research.
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