R01AG050782

Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans - Project Summary

Black/African Americans have the highest rate of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) in the United States but evidence on risk and resiliency factors for ADRD is based almost exclusively on non-Hispanic whites.

The Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans (STAR) was initiated in 2017 (RF1AG050782) as a lifecourse cohort study of cognitive ageing in middle-aged and elderly black individuals who are long-term members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California.

Recently established, STAR is one of the largest all-black cohort studies with prospective clinical, lifestyle, and behavioral data from 1960s - present.

Cycle 1 of STAR accomplished key goals including commencement of the cohort and enrollment of 764 black individuals (mean age 69, range 53-95; 66% female) with 3 research visits approximately 15 months apart.

All waves included an extensive neuropsychology battery along with survey collection of psychosocial factors, stress, discrimination, occupation, and an array of health, behavioral, and functional measures. 233 participants had a brain MRI.

STAR Cycle 1 has contributed key findings about cognitive aging in the black population and set up an unprecedented infrastructure enabling linkage of early-life data and medical records to investigate predictors of cognitive decline, neurodegeneration, and vascular injury.

STAR participants display a wide array of life experiences and resiliency: 47% attended college, 80% reporting everyday discrimination, 57% with mothers < high school education, 28% financial problems in childhood while 4% in adulthood, 39% attended segregated schools, and 36% had >1 cardiovascular risk factor in young adulthood.

Key findings from Cycle 1 include: 1) School segregation and timing of desegregation is associated with differences in late-life cognition; 2) Hypertension, obesity, and hyperlipidemia in adolescence, young adulthood, and midlife are associated with poorer cognitive performance and more vascular brain injury; 3) Birth in a stroke-belt state is associated with poorer cognitive function; 4) Parental education and childhood socioeconomic status are associated with cognitive performance; and 5) Attending a school with mostly black students is associated with lower depressive symptoms in later life.

The establishment of STAR in Cycle 1 sets the infrastructure for an unprecedented continuing study of the transition to ADRD and identification of lifetime factors that can reduce risk of cognitive impairment in black older adults.

In this competitive renewal for Cycle 2 of STAR, our aims are:

Aim 1a: Enroll an additional 400 individuals into STAR to determine age and sex-specific incident ADRD and domain-specific cognitive decline in a cohort of black individuals.

Aim 1b: Evaluate lifecourse risk and protective factors of ADRD and cognitive decline in this cohort.

Aim 2: Collect blood-based biomarkers consistent with the ATN framework (ASS 42/40, total tau and phosphotau-181, neurofilament light [NFL], glial fibrillary acidic protein [GFAP]) and evaluate their contribution to ADRD and cognitive decline in a cohort of black individuals.

Aim 3a: Determine the contribution of lifecourse risk and protective factors on neuroimaging markers of neurodegeneration, atrophy, and vascular injury change in 300 black individuals.

Aim 3b: Determine the contribution of neuroimaging markers of neurodegeneration, atrophy, and vascular injury change on cognitive decline and ADRD in a black cohort.

Aim 4a: Initiate a brain donation program in STAR and characterize the spectrum of neuropathology in a cohort of black participants.

Aim 4b: Evaluate predictors of interest, consent, and participation in the brain donation program.

Davis University Of California

TO ENCOURAGE BIOMEDICAL, SOCIAL, AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING DIRECTED TOWARD GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE AGING PROCESS AND THE DISEASES, SPECIAL PROBLEMS, AND NEEDS OF PEOPLE AS THEY AGE. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING HAS ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS TO PURSUE THESE GOALS. THE DIVISION OF AGING BIOLOGY EMPHASIZES UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF AGING. THE DIVISION OF GERIATRICS AND CLINICAL GERONTOLOGY SUPPORTS RESEARCH TO IMPROVE THE ABILITIES OF HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS TO RESPOND TO THE DISEASES AND OTHER CLINICAL PROBLEMS OF OLDER PEOPLE. THE DIVISION OF BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH SUPPORTS RESEARCH THAT WILL LEAD TO GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOCIAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT BOTH THE PROCESS OF GROWING OLD AND THE PLACE OF OLDER PEOPLE IN SOCIETY. THE DIVISION OF NEUROSCIENCE FOSTERS RESEARCH CONCERNED WITH THE AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AS WELL AS THE RELATED SENSORY, PERCEPTUAL, AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH AGING AND HAS A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.866 - Aging Research

National Institute on Aging (NIA) [HHS - NIH]

Davis, California 95618 United States

Single Zip Code

Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) (PAR-22-093)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 206% from $4,646,209 to $14,240,222.