The impact of neighborhood greenspace on cognitively healthy life years and structural markers of brain health

邻里绿地对认知健康生命年和大脑健康结构标志的影响

• 批准号: 10425651
• 负责人: Sara Godina
• 金额: $ 4.04万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-04-15 至 2023-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10425651
• 关键词: Accounting; Adult; Aging; Alzheimer' s disease related dementia; Alzheimer' s disease risk; Biological; Black Populations; Body Composition; Brain; Brain Pathology; Buffers; Code; Cognition; Cognitive; Communities; Data; Data Set; Death Certificates; Disadvantaged; Disease; Elderly; Encapsulated; Environment; Environmental Risk Factor; Exposure to; Foundations; Funding; Future; Goals; Grasslands; Green space; Health; Health Promotion; High Prevalence; ICD-9; Imagery; Impaired cognition; Individual; Interview; Length; Life; Longevity; Low Prevalence; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Measures; Morbidity - disease rate; National Institute on Aging; Neighborhoods; Outcome; Participant; Pathway interactions; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Physical activity; Policies; Prevalence; Prevention; Property; Proxy; Public Health; Race; Recommendation; Research; Resources; Risk; Risk Factors; Role; Sampling; Scientist; Social Interaction; Structure; Testing; Time; White Matter Hyperintensity; Work; aged; aging brain; base; biracial; brain health; cognitive function; cohort; disability; forest; gray matter; health data; hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; land cover; land use; magnetic resonance imaging biomarker; mental state; modifiable risk; mortality; neighborhood disadvantage; neuropathology; person centered; population based; pre-doctoral; preventive intervention; prognostic significance; racial difference; racial health disparity; recruit; residence; residential segregation; virtual

PROJECT SUMMARY Consistently, studies indicate there are stark racial differences in the prevalence of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRDs), wherein older Black individuals are about twice as likely to have ADRDs as compared to older White individuals. Racial residential segregation is considered a fundamental driver of racial disparities in health, as historically disadvantaged neighborhoods are associated with less access to and differing quality of resources that promote health and wellness. Specific aspects of disadvantaged and historically redlined neighborhoods, including decreased exposure to greenspace, are associated with poorer cognitive function. Targeting such environmental risk factors for ADRDs is appealing as they are highly modifiable, unlike many individual-level risk factors. This study will utilize secondary data from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study, a population-based, biracial sample of adults aged 70-79 at entry. The overall objective of this application is to examine the influence of exposure to residential greenspace that contributes to time spent in cognitive health among older adults and to structural brain changes over time. Cognitively healthy life years (HLY), or years lived to the first occurrence of cognitive problems, is a metric that can facilitate better understanding of risk factors specifically associated with the length of time spent in years of cognitive health. This represents a substantive departure from the status quo by expanding the definition of “healthy” cognition into a person-centered metric more understandable to the individual, and better encapsulates burden as both a measure of morbidity and mortality. Relatedly, structural measures of brain health, such as magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers, are quantitative indicators of neuropathology that have prognostic significance for future time spent cognitively healthy. In Aim 1, I will determine the association between neighborhood greenspace and cognitively HLY. I hypothesize that individuals living in neighborhoods with greater residential greenspace will maintain more cognitively healthy life years, and this association will differ by race. In Aim 2, I will examine the association between greenspace and physical indicators of brain health. I hypothesize that individuals living in neighborhoods with greater residential greenspace will show a lower prevalence of neuropathology over time (measured by gray matter micro-structure and white matter hyperintensities), and this association will differ by race. In Aim 3, I will further characterize a widely-used composite greenspace measure using historical virtual audits, to identify the specific components of greenspace associated with healthy cognition. Identifying the impact of modifiable, environmental risk factors on cognition is necessary to inform future preventive interventions for healthy brain aging and public health recommendations; a strategic direction of the National Institute on Aging. This dissertation funding will provide the necessary foundation to reach my professional goals and make impactful contributions in the field of aging research, transitioning from predoctoral trainee to an independent research scientist.

项目总结