Predicting cognitive function: Biomarkers and economics in a rural aged cohort

项目摘要 老年人是最容易感染COVID-19的人群之一。空前的经济 大流行病造成的破坏和社会孤立可能不成比例地造成长期和 对这一高危群体可能造成不可逆转的负面影响。拟议的研究将侧重于 影响800多名老年人健康和福利的经济状况和社会行为 参与者及其约400名成年子女。我们将利用家庭过渡项目， 最初是作为研究农村家庭对农业经济严重衰退的反应而开始的 在美国，1980年代，一直持续到今天。因此，我们处于独特的地位， COVID-19大流行对个人和家庭的影响，在30多年的背景下， 积累了前瞻性数据。拟议的工作将评估与COVID-19相关的变化如何在 经济和社会环境影响两代人的健康和福利 家庭。我们建议研究个人和家庭对经济环境的适应情况， 受个人特征和生活经历影响的压力源，并提出建议 关于未来增加弱势群体复原力的新方案和社会政策 危机父母补助金的目标是系统地评估认知功能在一个规范的老龄化 人群，并评估其与视网膜神经纤维层厚度和近端和累积 经济和社会压力，并量化与血管危险因素相关的生物学变量（BMI， 高血压、吸烟）以及性别，缓和了这些关联。这一补充将增强 在COVID-19大流行的背景下，通过解决这些问题来实现这一目标。目标是 利用补充资金解决的问题是：（1）调查COVID-19大流行对 老年人及其中年子女的健康。我们将评估COVID- 19-相关的经济和社会压力因素，如经济困难和情绪困扰， 受影响个人的健康状况，对既存慢性疾病的管理（例如，糖尿病）， 影响健康的行为（例如，吸烟、物质使用、锻炼）和认知功能。（二） 调查COVID-19疫情对各代家庭福利的影响。我们将评估 COVID-19导致的经济和社会压力对社会行为和家庭的影响 在几代人之间运作。在这个危机时刻，我们将研究代际 经济环境、情感健康和社会行为（例如物质使用）的传播 并评估COVID-19压力因素对家庭过程的影响，如婚姻和父母的质量， 孩子的关系。

PROJECT ABSTRACT Older adults are one of the populations most vulnerable to COVID-19. The unprecedented economic disruption and social isolation caused by the pandemic may disproportionately cause long-lasting and potentially irreversible negative impacts to this at-risk group. The proposed research will focus on economic circumstances and social behaviors that affect the health and welfare of over 800 older adult participants and their ~400 middle-aged adult children. We will utilize the Family Transitions Project, that originally began as a study of the rural family response to the severe recession in the agricultural economy in the U.S. during the 1980s and continues to this day. Thus, we are uniquely positioned to examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals and families in the context of over 30 years of accumulated prospective data. The proposed work will assess how COVID-19-associated changes in economic and social circumstances impact the health and welfare of individuals across two generations of families. We propose to examine individual and family adjustment to economic circumstances and stressors that are affected by personal characteristics and life experiences, and make recommendations regarding new programs and social policies that increase resiliency of vulnerable populations in future crises. The goals of the parent grant are to systematically evaluate cognitive function in a normative aging population and assess its association with retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and proximal and cumulative economic and social stress, and to quantify how biological variables related to vascular risk factors (BMI, hypertension, smoking), as well as gender, moderate these associations. This supplement will enhance this work by addressing these questions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aims to be addressed using supplementary funds are: (1) Investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of older adults and their middle-aged adult children. We will evaluate the extent to which COVID- 19-associated economic and social stressors, such as financial hardship and emotional distress, have impacted individuals’ health status, management of pre-existing chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes), behaviors that affect health (e.g., smoking, substance use, exercising), and cognitive functioning. (2) Investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on family welfare across generations. We will assess the impact of economic and social stressors resulting from COVID-19 on social behaviors and family functioning between generations. During this time of crisis, we will examine the intergenerational transmission of economic circumstances, emotional well-being, and social behaviors (e.g. substance use) and assess the impact of COVID-19 stressors on family processes such as the quality of marital and parent- child relationships.