R01AG089544

Consequences of incarceration on health, age-related conditions, and risk factors for ADRD - Project summary

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic adults, attributable, in part, to disparities in socioeconomic status and age-related health conditions.

ADRDs are among the costliest diseases to treat, posing a profound burden for people already experiencing health disparities.

Mass incarceration, which disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic people, may play a key role.

We propose to extend our current 28-year longitudinal study, the Northwestern Juvenile Project (NJP), to conduct the first comprehensive, prospective study of how the dose of incarceration—frequency and duration of stays, type of facility (juvenile detention, jail, prison), age(s), and recency—affects health, age-related conditions, and risk factors for ADRD.

Leveraging our original sample (N=1829 (now 1492), who will be ages 39-49 in the proposed study), we will use a mixed-methods approach, focusing on modifiable, midlife risk factors for ADRD as noted in the Lancet Commission 2020 report on ADRD prevention and other risk indexes: hypertension, smoking, obesity, depression, exercise, diabetes, social contact, and alcohol abuse.

Middle adulthood (40+ years) is a critical developmental period for targeting ADRD risk factors.

We have already conducted a pilot study (N=65) that demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed methods and the need to study health, age-related conditions, and risk factors for ADRD in people who have been incarcerated.

We will:

(1) Interview participants to assess physical and mental health, psychological well-being, and cognition using the NIH Toolbox (crystallized and fluid intelligence) and the Uniform Data Set (memory);

(2) Collect blood-based biomarkers of health (glucose metabolism, lipid ratios, kidney function, inflammation, and biological aging);

(3) Collect physiological measurements of health (height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, resting heart rate); and

(4) Use detailed data on dose of incarceration and the framework of dose-response models to assess how incarceration affects health, age-related conditions, and risk factors for ADRD.

We have 3 specific aims:

(1) To assess health, age-related conditions, and ADRD risk factors among participants at median age 45 and compare them to participants in the Add Health study, an NIA-funded study with a similarly aged sample;

(2) To examine the relationship between the dose of incarceration and health, age-related conditions, and risk factors for ADRD; and

(3) To identify risk and protective factors—including geocoded addresses to determine environmental risks—that moderate the relationship between dose of incarceration and health, age-related conditions, and ADRD risk factors.

We hypothesize, for example: that our participants will have worse health than those in Add Health; that persons who cycle in and out of jail will demonstrate poorer health and greater risk for ADRD than persons with long prison stays, even after controlling for days incarcerated; and that limited exercise in corrections and unstable housing upon release will exacerbate incarceration’s consequences.

By elucidating how the dose of incarceration and subsequent reentry experiences influence risk for ADRD, the proposed study will establish the empirical foundation needed to reduce disparities in healthy aging and mitigate risk for ADRD in persons who have been incarcerated.

Northwestern University

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]

Chicago, Illinois 606113006 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 104% from $4,351,542 to $8,887,003.