Posted on: Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Kuakini receives $7 million research grant

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kuakini Medical Center has received a $7 million grant for its continuing research into causes of brain aging, dementia and Parkinson's disease.

The grant was awarded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health. The research will be carried out by primary subcontractor Pacific Health Research Institute and other agencies, including the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Kuakini officials said the grant will allow the hospital to re-examine Japanese-American men who are participating in the Honolulu Heart Program and the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. The heart program began in 1965 with the examination of 8,006 Japanese-American men on O'ahu who were born between 1900 and 1919.

Over the past 35 years, these research volunteers received examinations and have provided information about their lives, jobs, health, diet and activities. In 1991, the research was expanded to identify which men developed signs of memory loss, dementia or Parkinson's.

The $7 million will support research over a five-year period. Co-investigator Helen Petrovitch said the money will be used to re-examine the nearly 2,000 surviving members of the test group.