By 2060, the CDC projects that the Latino population will experience the largest increase in Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) cases of all US ethnic/racial groups. The main, if not only, explanation oft echoed for disparately high Latino ADRD is attributed to early and excess cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity contributing to disparately high ADRD. CVD risk factors emerge earlier among Latinos in midlife, thereby increasing deleterious exposures to exquisitely sensitive and highly vascularized brain tissue. Yet, to- date there has not been any study of Latinos with sufficiently deep CVD phenotyping and genotyping to adequately address this significant public health question. This scientific knowledge gap is a significant impediment to the field and public health given continued and rapid Latino population growth projections, particularly for older adults. Latinos now represent nearly one-fifth of the US and 40% of its two most populous states, California and Texas. In coming decades, the older Latino population (>65 years) will quadruple (391%) and US public health is ill-prepared for forthcoming demographic and health-related shifts in the population. The Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging (SOL-INCA) is the only large, representative and ongoing longitudinal study of CVD, genomics and cognitive aging and ADRD in diverse Latinos. In this SOL- INCA renewal, we will leverage 10-years of deep CVD phenotyping, multi-layered -omics and rich sociocultural data to fill these neglected scientific gaps in our current understanding of ADRD in diverse Latinos.
The Competitive Renewal of the Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging (SOL-INCA2) leverages the ongoing Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL; NHLBI; n=16,415) and its 10-years of rich cognitive, sociocultural, cardiovascular and genomic data to understand the biology of Latino Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The SOL-INCA2 approach blends the NIA-AA research framework on Alzheimer's disease biomarkers and NIA Health Disparities Research Framework to discover if and when cardiovascular disease begins contributing to cognitive impairment and dementia to ultimately reduce Latino ADRD disparities. The SOL-INCA2 goal is to identify critical periods in adulthood when AD biomarkers and cognitive decline emerge to best guide ADRD public health prevention and therapeutic interventions for Latinos that will apply to other diverse populations.
