U01AG078533

Education and cognitive functioning in later life: The nation’s high school class of 1972 - Project summary/abstract

Education is among the most important determinants of later-life cognitive functioning and biological markers of AD/ADRD risk.

However, we know very little about how, why, or for whom education matters for these cognitive outcomes.

This makes it difficult to design effective early life preventative interventions.

To know how and why education matters for later-life cognitive functioning and biological markers of AD/ADRD risk, we need high quality prospective studies that follow diverse young people through schools and across adulthood;

that measure key and modifiable educational contexts, opportunities, and outcomes;

that observe midlife socioeconomic attainments;

and that assess cognitive functioning and biological markers of AD/ADRD risk in late life.

To date, no such studies exist.

This project brings together an established and interdisciplinary team of neurologists, neuropsychologists, sociologists, education scientists, survey methodologists, biostatisticians, and neuroimaging experts who will re-contact surviving members of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72; N=14,489).

NLS-72 is a nationally representative and highly diverse random sample of Americans first interviewed as high school seniors in 1972.

Following protocols developed and successfully deployed in the High School and Beyond (HSB) cohort in 2014-2015 and 2021, the team will conduct in-home interviews that include extensive cognitive assessments and anthropometric measures;

in-home visits to gather whole blood;

and (for 500 people near one of five regional centers) neuroimaging via harmonized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The resulting data—which will be securely released to the wider scientific community during the project period—will be used to conduct transformative analyses of the effects of educational contexts, opportunities, and outcomes on risk of AD/ADRD as observed in cognitive assessments, blood-based markers of neuropathology, and neuroimaging.

The project has four aims:

(Aim 1) To estimate the extent to which education shapes biological, neurocognitive, and behavioral markers of AD/ADRD risk at age 70;

(Aim 2) To estimate the extent to which adult socioeconomic attainments mediate the effects of education on vascular health, pace of biological aging, and cognitive functioning at age 70;

(Aim 3) To estimate the extent to which racial and ethnic differences in the quality of and returns to education account for disparities in markers of AD/ADRD risk;

and (Aim 4) To securely disseminate newly collected NLS-72 data for wide use by the research community.

The analyses made possible by the newly collected data will transform our understanding of how and why education and other early life factors impact AD/ADRD risk and resilience.

University Of Texas At Austin

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]

Austin, Texas 78759 United States

Single Zip Code

Data Enhancements and Analyses to Clarify the Relationship between Education and Cognitive Function (including AD/ADRD) (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (RFA-AG-22-025)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 27% from $25,903,976 to $32,776,590.