Once you give consent, you will be asked to complete questionnaires about your lifestyle, health, athletic history, medical history, and mood and behavior. You will also be asked to take online thinking and memory tests to help us understand your ability to remember, solve problems, and stay focused. You do not have to complete all study tasks in one sitting. However, we do ask that, once you begin the assessments, you may comeback as many times as necessary to complete them within a 3-month period. After 3 months, you will be locked out of the website until the next round of follow-up assessments, approximately 12 months after you first enrolled.

We ask participants to return to HITSS-ND every 12 months to complete follow-up questionnaires and retake brain tests. Our investigators track this information overtime to better understand changes in the participant’s brain health.

In total, HITSS-ND requires approximately 2 hours of your time annually. Remember, this does not need to be all one sitting, as different study tasks vary in terms of how much time it takes ranging from 2 minutes to 20 minutes. You can leave the website and return when it is convenient for you!

HITSS is funded by a five-year grant, with the end of funding in early 2026. However, we are hoping that HITSS will be able to continue after that initial period.

You may choose to decline participation after reviewing the informed consent form. You may also withdraw your participation, at any time, after agreeing to the consent form as this is a voluntary research study.

If you have remaining unfinished study tasks in your current time point, you will receive periodic reminder emails to complete them.

A check mark next to the study task name is used to indicate if that specific task has been completed. If there is no check mark, please click on that task to complete it. Completing all study tasks makes a big difference, as finishing the entire set of questionnaires and thinking and memory tests is key for researchers to gain the most accurate representation of your overall brain health.

If you return to your questionnaire and there is an “Edit” button, you can update your responses. To do so, select “Edit”, and update your responses.

Please note that editing your responses is only available for a limited time window. If you do not see an “Edit” button, don’t worry. When you come back to HITSS-ND for your next follow-up visit, you can provide your updated answers at that time.

If you have questions or concerns about participating in HITSS-ND, please email us at NDStudy@bu.edu.

You will have a total of 3 months to complete your follow-up visit. Over the course of those 3 months, you will receive periodic reminders of the deadline for the completion of your follow-up visit.

If you miss your follow-up visit, we ask that you wait until your next annual follow-up to return to HITSS-ND. HITSS will send you reminders for all follow-ups so no need to worry about keeping track.