There are 5.5 million Americans living today with Alzheimer?s disease (AD) at a cost of $270 billion. This cost is expected to quadruple by 2050 with 13.8 million Americans diagnosed with AD, making AD a national public health priority. By 2050, older racial and ethnic minorities will reach approximately 42% of the population. This is salient given that minorities, African Americans in particular, are at two times greater risk for AD compared to non-Hispanic whites, and have the highest rates of dementia incidence. Despite this increased risk, relatively few studies have examined the modifiable factors, and their biological mechanisms, that impart increased risk for AD in African Americans. Because African Americans have disproportionately higher levels of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity ? all of which are known factors that increase AD risk ? chronic peripheral inflammation is posited as a unifying biological mechanism that increases AD risk in African Americans. Higher levels of peripheral inflammation have been linked with greater psychosocial stress, poorer cognitive function, and worse brain white matter integrity in older adults. However, the majority of prior work has been cross-sectional and in majority non-Hispanic white cohorts. Therefore, the research goal of this proposal is to investigate whether peripheral inflammatory marker levels are associated with worse cognition and white matter integrity longitudinally, and whether psychosocial stressors affect these associations in older African Americans.
Our specific aims are to (1) investigate whether change in peripheral inflammation is associated with change in cognition; (2) examine whether change in peripheral inflammation is associated with change in white matter integrity; and (3) determine whether psychosocial stressors are associated with change in peripheral inflammation, and whether psychosocial stressors moderate associations between inflammation, neuroimaging, and cognitive outcomes. This proposal will leverage data from the Minority Aging Research Study at the Rush Alzheimer?s Disease Center, an ongoing longitudinal cohort of African Americans, to complete this work. The training goal of this proposal is for the applicant to (1) develop an advanced skillset for interrogation of white matter via neuroimaging; (2) expand knowledge and expertise in inflammation, a key risk factor in pathological aging; (3) cultivate competency in statistical modeling of longitudinal data; and (4) gain training in conducting research with minority populations. Training will be completed at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Rush Alzheimer?s Disease Research Center with sponsors, collaborators, and resources at both institutions. Training will include structured mentoring experiences, formal coursework, clinical practica, and professional development. Ultimately, this training will allow the applicant to advance in career goals of becoming a successful clinical neuropsychologist and independent researcher studying factors that prevent or delay onset of AD in minority populations disproportionately burdened by this disease.
African Americans have two times greater risk for Alzheimer?s disease (AD) compared to non-Hispanic whites, presenting a public health crisis. Determining the role of risk factors and their biological mechanisms in the development of AD in African Americans is imperative. This study, which investigates factors of inflammation and psychosocial stressors on brain and cognitive decline in older African Americans, will provide important knowledge toward prevention of AD in this at-risk population.
