Dr Tom Russ
Consultant Psychiatrist & Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer

- Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre
- Centre for Dementia Prevention
- Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, Division of Psychiatry
Contact details
- Email: T.C.Russ@ed.ac.uk
Background
I trained in medicine and psychiatry in Edinburgh, the Highlands and London and work clinically with older people with functional mental illness and dementia. I am secretary of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland philosophy and psychiatry special interest group and sit on the Working with Older People steering group at Human Development Scotland (formerly the Scottish Institute of Human Relations).
I would like to encourage any students interested in dementia research, whether or not it happens to be in connection with an SSC block, to contact me about potential projects. I am or have recently supervised projects on temporal trends in dementia rates, music and dementia, and the concept of personhood in dementia so I’d be very pleased to hear from students whatever their focus of interest.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Science, University of Edinburgh: Medical Science with Honours in Psychology
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, University of Edinburgh
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Edinburgh: An integrated investigation into dementia risk factors: insights from geography, record linkage, and individual participant meta-analysis
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice , University of Edinburgh
Responsibilities & affiliations
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, FHEA
Certificate of Completion of Training in Old Age Psychiatry, CCT
Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, MRCPsych
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Current PhD students supervised
Jude Gibson (non-clinical; Psychiatry; January 2015—): Depression and dementia in Generation Scotland (part of the STRAtifying Depression Longitudinally [STRADL] project funded by the Wellcome Trust)
Stina Saunders (non-clinical; Psychiatry; April 2017—): Adjustment and Clinical outcomes to Mild Cognitive Impairment
Lucy Stirland – PSYSTAR Clinical Research Fellow (clinical; Psychiatry; August 2016—)
Katherine Walesby (clinical; Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre/Centre for Cognitive Ageing & Cognitive Epidemiology; August 2015—): Geographical variation in dementia in the 1947 Scottish Mental Survey Cohort.
Research summary
I have been investigating geographical variation in dementia risk for a number of years and we have found substantial variation with increased risk in the north of Scotland, Sweden, and Italy, compared to the south. In Sweden, even after taking account of genetic effects, the risk of dementia was still two-to-three times higher in the north compared to the south which suggests an environmental effect. Therefore, I am now focusing on environmental risk factors for dementia, including air pollution and vitamin D deficiency (which relates to sunlight).
- Dementia epidemiology, including geographical variation in dementia, environmental risk factors, and the life course approach
- Psychological distress as a risk factor
- Individual participant meta-analysis
Research activities
-
A comparison of blood and brain-derived ageing and inflammation-related DNA methylation signatures and their association with microglial burdens
In:
European Journal of Neuroscience
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15661
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Association between anticholinergic burden and dementia in UK Biobank
In:
Alzheimer's and Dementia: Translational Research and Clinical Interventions
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Assessing and disclosing test results for ‘mild cognitive impairment’: the perspective of old age psychiatrists in Scotland
In:
BMC Geriatrics, vol. 22
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-021-02693-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
PREPRINT: Mechanisms of Motoric Cognitive Risk – hypotheses based on a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies of older adults
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.26.21265519
Research output: › Other contribution (Published) -
Heterogeneity of Frailty Trajectories and Associated Factors in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
In:
Gerontology, pp. 1-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1159/000519240
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Increase in anticholinergic burden from 1990 to 2015: Aage‐period‐cohort analysis in UK Biobank
In:
British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.15045
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Comparison of structural MRI brain measures between 1.5 and 3T: Data from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
In:
Human Brain Mapping, pp. 3905-3921
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25473
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The impact of neighbourhood crime on mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis
In:
Social Science & Medicine, vol. 282
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114106
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on psychosocial factors, health, and lifestyle in Scottish octogenarians: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 Study
In:
PLoS ONE
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253153
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Predictors of Mild Cognitive Impairment Stability, Progression, or Reversion in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
In:
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 80, pp. 225-232
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-201282
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Variation in VKORC1 is associated with vascular dementia
In:
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-201256
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
DNA methylation of blood cells is associated with prevalent type 2 diabetes in a meta-analysis of four European cohorts
In:
Clinical Epigenetics, vol. 13
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-021-01027-3
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Home garden use during COVID-19: Associations with physical and mental wellbeing in older adults
In:
Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 73, pp. 1-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101545
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
In:
Alzheimer disease and associated disorders
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/WAD.0000000000000433
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Life Course Air Pollution Exposure and Cognitive Decline: Modelled Historical Air Pollution Data and the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
In:
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, pp. 1-12
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-200910
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Change in physical activity, sleep quality, and psychosocial variables during COVID-19 lockdown: Evidence from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
(16 pages)
In:
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010210
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Pulmonary function and risk of Alzheimer dementia: Two-sample Mendelian randomization study
In:
Chest
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.11.056
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Letter (E-pub ahead of print) -
A pragmatic tool to identify aspects of frailty: Commentary on “Validation of the Pictorial Fit-Frail Scale in a Memory Clinic Setting” by Wallace et al.
In:
International Psychogeriatrics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610220000204
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Comment/debate (Published) -
Inflammation as a risk factor for the development of frailty in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
In:
Experimental gerontology, vol. 139
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2020.111055
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Response
In:
Chest, vol. 158, pp. 834-835
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.04.037
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Letter (Published)