Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) Prevention and Research among Middle Age Latinas residing in an Underserved Agricultural Community

基金资助或项目的摘要或摘要。

Summary or abstract of the funded grant or project. The parent grant project aims to understand the unique and combined impacts of social and environmental factors on ADRDs risk and relevant mechanisms. We propose to leverage a well-established cohort from The Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) study of approximately 550 Latina women who are entering mid-life (mean = 47 years old). To study the associations between social adversity, pesticide exposures, and ADRDs risk among Latinos, our Specific Aims are: 1. To quantify associations between early and mid-life social adversity and cognitive performance among mid-life Latina women and the extent to which these associations are explained by cardiometabolic and inflammatory mechanisms. Informed by the life course perspective, we hypothesize that early and mid-life adversity will each independently contribute to poorer cognitive outcomes, but that women who experience both will be most cognitive disadvantaged in mid-life. We also expect that cardio-metabolic risk factors and inflammation will partially mediate any observed associations. 2. To estimate associations between agricultural pesticide exposure and cognitive performance and to evaluate whether social adversity and pesticide exposure interact to produce poorer cognitive outcomes among mid-life Latina women. We hypothesize that pesticide exposure, evaluated via both area- level metrics and individual biomarkers, will adversely impact mid-life cognitive outcomes. Informed by an exposure-stress-disease framework, we further hypothesize that pesticide exposure and social adversity will combine to produce poorer cognitive outcomes. 3. To evaluate relationships between life course social adversity, pesticide exposure, and brain biomarkers among mid-life Latina women. We will measure total brain and regional volume and white matter hyper-intensities via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on a subset of 200 women. In exploratory analyses, we will also evaluate whether social adversity and/or pesticide exposure modify associations between brain structure, pathology, and cognitive performance.