Joshua Ehrlich portrait image. Joshua Ehrlich, wearing a blue coat, pictured in front of a background of soft-focus plants.
Joshua Ehrlich MD, MPH

Michigan Medicine
University of Michigan

​There is an urgent need to identify potentially modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Vision impairment is consistently and strongly associated with cognitive decline and ADRD in prior studies. However, it has not been integrated into life course models of ADRD risk factors, and the fraction of ADRD cases attributable to poor vision in the U.S. and globally is not known. This project will use data from the Health and Retirement Study and the Global Burden of Disease Project to estimate the number of ADRD cases attributable to vision impairment, as well as the potential for dementia prevention through cost-effective improvements in vision health.